


Broken Wings

by My_Marvel_Musings



Series: If You Could Live Forever [4]
Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-08-22 04:12:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 26,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16590629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Marvel_Musings/pseuds/My_Marvel_Musings
Summary: The final installment to If You Could Live Forever. Reader fights for mutant safety and faces the possibility of losing Logan. She then meets Everett Ross when at her lowest point before getting sucked into the Kree/Skrull war.Timeline: 1962 - 2013, Last chapter 2024





	1. The Human’s War

**Author's Note:**

> This series is dedicated to Stan Lee. I grew up on the X-Men comic books and animated series. Without you, the movies (MCU, Sony, Fox Marvel alike) would never had existed along with a fandom that has bonded so many people together. You have given me a platform to display my nerdiness. Excelsior!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader finds Charles Xavier at his home to find out what he needed her help with. Picks up days after A Khaleesi Needs a Khal.

I walked up to the old mansion and could hear multiple voices inside. Clearly Charles and Erik had been successful in recruiting other mutants after Logan and I said no. And now, only Logan was saying no. I really hope I hadn’t just made a huge mistake by coming here.

As I walked up the steps to the door, the voices behind it silenced. The door swung open before I could even lift my hand and a skinny kid with glasses stood in front of me.

“You must be ____. Charles said he could hear you.”

“He needs to realize how unsettling that is.” I stepped into the mansion once the kid moved aside. In the foyer stood Erik, Charles, and a young blonde woman. “I see you didn’t let our answer slow you down.”

“Though it seems you have changed your mind. To a degree, I can see.” Charles smiled at me.

“Ok, please stop that. It’s getting creepy.”

“Tell me about it.” The blonde woman rolled her eyes. “I’m Raven, Charles’ sister. And he’s Hank.”

I looked back at the skinny kid and nodded my head. “Nice to meet you guys. So what is it you’re trying to do, Charles?”

"Shaw tried to have his associate Emma Frost meet with a Russian general. We intercepted her and found out Shaw wants to start a nuclear war between the US and Russia."

"Wait, hold on. A nuclear war?! I could tell the man was trying to pass himself off as some evil genius, but seriously?! Mutants aren't cockroaches. Only a handful will survive, but that will be a moot point as what in the actual hell would we eat or drink afterwards?"

“That’s why we need your help. Your powers are unmatched from what we have found so far.”

“Yeah, well I’m not the biggest baddy out there. And I’m not helping to fight a war. I’m here to help you start a school.”

“A school?”

“Yes. Think about it, Charles. Mutants need a place where they can feel safe. We can give them that.”

Charles nodded his head. “I agree, but we need to deal with Shaw first.”

“Fabulous. I’ll be waiting here when you’re done.”

Erik walked over and proceeded to look me up and down. "Charles, I thought you said she was more powerful than even you or I. Why is she hiding?"

"She is right here in front of you and can hear your idiotic, condescending attitude. This man tried to trap me in an underground facility in hopes of wearing me down to become his bride in the aftermath. Forgive me if I don't want to come face to face with him again."

"Tried? How did you escape if he thought you were trapped?"

"Simple. He may be able to absorb energy, but he sure as shit couldn't live through the Earth literally collapsing on top of his head."

"And you can?"

"It's what I do. I control the Earth as a whole. You name it, I can do it. And what I did was pull the Earth into his room, destroying it. Then crawled to the surface."

Erik was clearly in awe of what I could do. "You're an omega."

"External."

"What?"

"I'm an external. You know, an omega that's immortal. I'm coming up on 400 years old." Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Raven becoming annoyed with the attention Erik was showing me. 

"Must be a lonely life." Erik stepped closer to me.

"Most of it was. Part of my mutation harms anyone that tries to get too close to me physically."

Charles frowned at me. "Harms people? In what manner?"

I shook my head. "It's not important and not a factor luckily at this current moment in time. What is important is knowing what kind of a plan you have in dealing with Shaw."

Charles looked at me with curiosity, but I could tell he would let the conversation go for now. "Shaw attacked the CIA headquarters in DC, killing one of the people we recruited and took another one for his team. We're here to help the others train in their mutations so we'll be better prepared for the next encounter."

"I'm on board with that. Who else do you have here and what do you need me to do?"

"Havok and Banshee are setting up their rooms. Since you can't be harmed, maybe you can help Havok reign in his powers."

"Banshee? Havok?"

"Cassidy and Alex. We decided to give ourselves cool code names after our mutations. I'm Mystic, Charles is Professor X, and Erik is Magneto." Raven chimmed in.

"So what is it you do, Mystic?" Right before my eyes, I watched as her skin shifted until she was an exact copy of me. "Impressive."

"I just can't copy someone's mutation."

"Probably for the best. My powers can be a bit much to control for anyone who hasn't had the practice."

"Will we get a demonstration?" Erik questioned.

"Sure. I'll keep what I can do on the lower end to keep everyone safe." I looked over my shoulder at Hank. "No super hero name for you?"

He looked at his shoes, embarrassed. "Not yet. But what I can do is not that impressive."

"I'm sure your skills are very useful. Otherwise Charles wouldn't have recruited you."

Charles spoke up. "He helped me build Cerebro."

"Cerebro?"

"It's a device that allows me to find other mutants. That's how I found you and Logan."

"That's-" I shook my head. "That's really creepy, man. Where is it?"

"Back at the CIA headquarters."

"WHAT?! Are you insane?"

"They can't use it without a telepath, so now it will only collect dust."

I rubbed my face. "Holy hell. Logan was right, this is a big mistake."

Charles moved until he was standing directly in front of me, speaking only with his mind.  _Please stay. If you do, Hank and I will try to find out why your mutation seems to harm anyone but Logan. Unlike you, he won't live forever despite his healing and you'll need to be prepared for when the next person comes into your life._

Sighing, I slowly nodded my head. "Fine, I'll help out here as much as I can until you leave to fight Shaw. Let's meet these other recruits, shall we?"

Charles smiled at me and led me down the hall of his home, commenting along the way where I would be staying, where the kitchen was, and where Hank's lab was set up. Erik fell into step with us, asking questions about my mutation and where I had lived before. I filled them in as much as I could remember, Charles commenting that he would help me remember more later if I wanted. Erik walked very close to me and I could tell he felt he had found a kindred spirit in me. I had no idea what his past held, but clearly there was a lot of pain he was trying to hide. But I could also tell that pain would roll over him like it no doubt tried to roll over me when I was rescued so many years ago. While I couldn't remember what I did, I do know it was so bad neither Loki nor Thor would speak of what happened. Perhaps I could save Erik from going down the same path.


	2. Training Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader helps Charles and Erik train their recruits.

"Ok, kid. You need to really focus once I drop the winds." I was standing in the middle of the expansive lawn that backed the mansion, a gentle breeze flowing around Cassidy and myself.

Banshee took a deep breath and nodded, adjusting the 'wings' on his outfit one more time. The kid had impressive vocal powers and Hank built him a suit to see if it was possible for Banshee to harness his powers in order to glide over the land. Pointing a hand, the winds picked up until they lifted Cassidy high into the air. He stretched out his arms, letting the wings fill with air. Once he had a solid glide going, I dropped my hand and the winds suddenly stopped. He managed to stay in the air for five minutes before he began to drop. Unfortunately, he forgot to start screaming at this point and dropped like a rock.

Quickly, I placed my hands on the ground to change the consistency of the Earth. When Cassidy landed, the Earth absorbed the impact and allowed his body to safely sink in before bouncing back up. Sighing, I allowed the Earth to return to normal as I walked over. "Are you alright, kid?"

"I think so." He groaned as he sat up. "I don't know why I keep forgetting to scream."

"That is a mystery considering a sane person would be shrieking their head off if they began to plummet to the ground." Erik commented as he walked up to us.

"Very helpful, Lehnsherr," I rolled my eyes before helping Cassidy to his feet. "Why don't you take five, kid? We'll try again later."

He nodded as he limped off to see Hank about his bruises. I turned to face Erik and cocked an eyebrow, waiting for him to state why he was out there. "I thought I would come out here to see if you needed any help."

"You mean you got sick of Charles psycho-analyzing you at every turn." I began to walk back to the mansion. "What's your deal, Erik? Why do you have so much extra pain rattling around that head of yours?"

"You're one to talk, Mother Nature. From what Charles tells me, you went on quite the rampage when you were younger." 

I stopped and turned to face him. "Possible. I honestly don't remember as I spent a full century blocking it out of my head. All I remember is that I was tried as a witch and was tortured within an inch of my life before some Asgardian Gods saved me. The Earth took me in and healed me on the exchange that I protected her until my last breath. I made some mistakes after my mutation first emerged, but I refuse to go down that path again. A path you seem to be running to head first."

"Well we are superior to the humans."

"Which is why we should protect them, not hunt them down." 

"How is the testing going?" I frowned at his sudden topic change. Erik always avoided talking about his past and how he was allowing it to shape his future.

"Slowly. Hank and Charles can't seem to figure out why my mutation would hurt anyone I become intimate with."

"Perhaps you're trying to create a mate?"

"That seems counterintuitive to what my powers are actually doing. Though I will bring it up to Hank as an option to test."

"How are you testing your mutation?"

"Currently we aren't. Hank has been taking samples of my blood to try to map my mutation. Once he has that figured out, he'll find a way to test it against other people."

"And in the meantime, if you find someone what will you do?"

"What makes you think I'm currently looking?" I started walking towards the mansion again.

"Because you came here alone and you continue to stay. You seemed to have found a soul you sympathize with."

"Empathize. The word you're looking for is empathize. I feel empathy towards you, Erik, because I understand you have an insane amount of pain even if you won't say as to why. But I came here because I believe Charles has the ability to help our kind. He's certainly taught you a few things, if I recall correctly. And I plan to stay until the school has a proper foundation. Then, and only then, will I return to Logan."

"Logan? That man whom so eloquently told us to go fuck ourselves? You're with him?"

"Yes, Erik. I am with Logan. I have been since I ran into Shaw back in Europe, before World War II started. We met under very unusual circumstances, but we have found an unbreakable bond between us."

"Then why is he not here with you?" Erik held the door open for me and I stopped to look him in the eye.

"Because Logan's not a joiner, but he knows this means something to me. He will be waiting for my return just as I waited for his when he left to fight in the war."

Erik reached out and caressed my cheek. "You deserve someone of your level."

My eyes glowed silvery blue and Erik's hand was shocked right off my face. He yanked his hand back and looked at me in shock. "You may be good looking and charming, but believe me when I say you have a pain behind those eyes that you need to heal from first before you move on anyone. And if you ever touch me again without my permission, I will shove a lightning bolt so far up your ass you'll glow like a Christmas tree for a week."

Turning away from him, I made my way through the mansion until I found Hank in his lab with Raven. She moved until she was sitting on his lap to look in his microscope. Before they could notice me, I left the room to find Charles instead. 

_Over here, _____. In the upper wing._

He really needed to stop doing that, though it was helpful this time. I followed Charles' mental instructions until I came across a room with large French doors. Cracking one open, I peeked in to see Charles sitting at a large desk.

"Come in, ____. I know you want to talk about Erik."

"Actually, I want to talk about my test. Although Erik did bring up an interesting theory."

Charles studied me for a moment, reading the conversation I just had with Erik. "That certainly is an educated guess on his part. And I would almost be inclined to believe him if it wasn't for Logan. Not to mention you may very well not be what was killing those people. This was during the time before proper medicine." 

"I would believe that if it was only one or two, but twenty-five? That's too much of a coincidence." I walked farther into the room and sat on the other side of his desk. "And apparently your friend wishes to be number twenty-six."

Charles frowned at this. "I was hoping it was only a fleeting fascination with you as Raven had shown interest in him."

"She did. Now she's buddying up to someone else, no doubt because she also noticed Erik's preference. But I didn't come in here to talk about them or Erik. You need to find a way to motivate your team. Banshee keeps forgetting to use his powers and Havok is having a hard time harnessing his. They are not ready for Shaw."

"They have been shaken by the death of their friend as well as watching CIA agents being dropped from the sky."

"Then don't bring them with you. I'm not saying they can't mourn the loss of their friends and their innocence, but they are ill-equipped for war. And I promise, Shaw will not go easy on them."

"Only if you go in their place." Charles leaned across the desk and gestured at the paper work in front of him. "You've already made steps in the right direction. These forms we have written up will protect you down the line for when that day comes when the government wants to trap you. But we shouldn't stop there. You should become an X-Men now, when we need you the most."

"No, Charles. I will not expose myself to the government before I am ready. I will always be here when you need me, but I will not fight this battle."

"You can't hide in the shadows forever."

"No, but I won't be used as a weapon. Governments have a weird way of using people and claiming it's for the good of this or that. They have been doing it for centuries."

He slowly nodded his head. "I know, but I still wish you would reconsider. Until then, let's see if we can't get these new recruits ready."

Charles and I spent the next two weeks trying to find different ways to motivate the new recruits. We set up a firing range in an old bunker below the mansion and had Havok try to shoot the dummies instead of me next to them. Hank found a way to develop a suit that gave his powers a focal point for release and soon was able to hit the target without me deflecting the fire.

Erik and I took Banshee to the top of a giant satellite Charles had on his property. I was trying to coax him to leap off when Erik just shoved him on the back, sending him over the edge. It worked and Banshee's screams carried him around the property, taking time to learn to turn and spin.

I looked at Erik and cocked an eyebrow.

"What? You were thinking of doing it, too. Admit it."

Instead of answering, I stepped off the edge and slid down the curve of the satellite. When the lip at the bottom launched me off the surface, I spun a few times before landing on my feet a few yards from the satellite.

"Show off!" Erik shouted down at me.

I just waved a hand at him and began the walk back to the mansion.

The night before they were to leave on their mission, the mansion was peacefully quiet. I wandered the halls, familarizing myself with the property. Charles and I had put some paperwork together to make me the one to inherit all of this one day if I ever needed a permanent home. I didn’t believe the day would ever come, but it was comforting to know there was somewhere Logan and I could turn to if life took too many swings at us.

Just as I decided to turn in for the night, the was a loud crash followed by growling coming from Hank’s room. I rushed down the halls and flung his door open without a second thought. Before me stood a tall, all blue, fur-covered animal that stood on two legs in the middle of Hank’s destroyed room. Not knowing if my mutation to control animals would work on the creature, my hands began to glow with flames.

“No, wait!” The beast cried. “____, it’s me! It’s Hank!”

“Hank?! Wh-what happened?!” I let the flames die out and slowly walked towards him.

“A failed experiment. I tried using Raven’s mutation as a way to mask my mutated feet, but it back fired. I’m a freak now.”

“Oh, Hank. You’re not a freak. You’re just more unique.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“No, it isn’t. I was tried for being a witch as a child and tortured for my abilities. I know it won’t be easy for you to go out like this. But you have people here who care about you no matter what you look like.”

He nodded his head, but I could tell he didn’t fully believe me. “Can you... can you not tell anyone? I’ll do it tomorrow in the hanger.”

“Of course, Hank.” I gave him a hug and left him to his work.


	3. Returning Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader waits for the X-Men to return from their mission before going home to Logan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone comments about underage drinking in this chapter, the drinking age in NY during 1962 was 18 years old. And that's the age I'm making Alex and Cassidy since the movies don't state their age.

The one thing time has never made easier for me was waiting. You would think once you reached immortality, waiting would be no big deal. Just a small blip in your life. But nothing could be further from the truth. After you’ve seen what time can dish out, waiting more than an hour for any type of news becomes nerve racking.

It was supposed to be a quick and simple mission. Gone four days tops. Now it was almost a month later and there had been no word from the team. The news said the Cuban Missile Crisis had be averted, so what was the delay? Perhaps the government felt that these powerful mutants couldn’t run around free. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Just as I was reaching my breaking point, I could hear the jet engine from Hank landing on the lawn. I raced out the door and down the drive towards the waiting aircraft. The back door dropped open and I stopped dead in my tracks. Charles was coming down the ramp in a wheelchair followed by Hank, Alex, Cassidy, and a young brunette woman I didn’t recognize.

“Charles? Are you- are you ok? Where’s Raven and Erik?”

Charles looked up at me and I could see the sadness pouring out of him.

“Oh, god. Don’t tell me they...”

He shook his head. “No, they’re alive. But... they left with the remainder of Shaw’s group.”

“Raven left you?”

He simply nodded his head. I rushed over and hugged him the best I could. “And to answer your other question, I was accidentally shot in the back. Moira here was trying to stop Erik and he deflected the bullets, only to have one lodge into my spine.”

“Trying to stop Erik?” I looked around at the group for answers.

“We better go inside. You’ll no doubt want to sit down during this story.”

As Charles’ house was not yet made for a person in a wheelchair, I lifted the chair with him still in it and climbed the stairs. Hank raced up the stairs to open the door so Charles could roll through. In the main living area, I poured everyone a drink and was introduced to Moira MacTaggert, a CIA agent who was the one to originally stumble upon Shaw's plan.

"Ok, so you're telling me your sister left you for the enemy?"

"Essentially, yes. Erik had agreed with Shaw's thinking this whole time, he was just extremely angry for Shaw killing his mother. So Erik returned the favor then took the remainder of Shaw's group along with Raven and left."

"I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around your sister leaving you while you were wounded."

Charles sighed and began his story from the beginning, covering what happened when they arrived in Cuba, the ensuing battle, and the aftermath. Even after hearing everything, I knew deep in my heart I could never forgive Raven for what she had done. As for Erik, this hadn't come to a huge surprise to me. I had seen enough men like him during my 390ish years alive to know where he had been heading this entire time. If I was lucky, I would never cross his path again.

"So what will you do now, Charles?"

Charles sighed and looked around the room. I had already chased Alex and Cassidy out of the room to rest after their first drink, not needing drunk kids on our hands. I didn't care for giving teens alcohol, even if they were the legal drinking age, but I made an exception for them to have one drink tonight for all they had gone through. Hank had a sketchbook out and was trying to plot where to put an elevator in the mansion. Moir just looked down at her mostly full glass.

"I guess I will go with your plan and start the school. A path of positivity to counter Erik's destruction. Hank and I will hire people to help us to convert the mansion, giving us proper rooms, classrooms, a medical wing, and labs."

"Good. This will be just the thing you need to keep your head clear. And I'll help, too, before I leave."

"And what will you do?"

"Well, you'll need ramps outside. Unless you're prepared to be a recluse for the rest of your life."

"You know construction?"

"No, but I know how to pull stones and boulders out of the ground." I smirked at him.

Moira's eyes grew wide at this and Charles cleared his throat. He must have heard something in her head that was a cause for concern. "____, if you don't mind I would like to have a moment alone with Moira to discuss how we will meet with the CIA about this incident."

"Of course, Charles." I stood up and said good night to Moira before leaving to my room. Once there, I picked up the phone and dialed the number to my home. "Hey, Logan. I hope I didn't wake you."

"Never, kid. You finally done there?"

"Almost. The mission was completed, but things went south for Charles. I'm going to stay an extra week to help make some improvements to the outside of his home. Then I'll be coming home to you."

"Improvements?"

"Yeah, he'll need some ramps outside his home next to his stairs at all entrances. He... he had an accident. I'll explain more once I'm home."

"Alright. But don't take too long. I'm starting to get cabin fever here."

I smirked and knew he could hear it in my voice. "Now you know how I felt when you left for war. I'll be home soon as I can. Love you."

"Love you, too, kid."

There was a knock on the door and then Charles was trying his best to roll through. I ran over and helped him through. "This is going to be tricky. Guess Hank and I will have to enlarge any doorway that isn't already French doors."

"So what have you and Moira decided on telling the CIA?" Charles was silent, as if deciding how to tell me something. Already I could read him like a book and I had only been at the mansion for one month before they had left for the mission. "You erased her memory, didn't you?"

"I had to. We need to keep the school quiet for now, especially if it's to be a safe haven like you want. Hank is escorting her home and when he returns, we will begin reconstructing this home."

"It will be a lot of hard work, but I'll be glad to help you where I can." I sighed and sat on my bed so I could be eye level with Charles. "I am so sorry you lost your friend as well as your sister. You know I cannot stay, but if you ever need me, I'll be here in a heartbeat."

He nodded his head. "I know and a part of me should have seen this coming. Raven's true physical form was always hidden until Erik came along. She had always hidden because her own parents tried to kill her when her mutation manifested. She felt that if I was truly on her side, then I should have been against the world as well."

"Oh, Charles. I wish you had told me this sooner. I could have tried to talk some sense into her."

"No, you couldn't have. Erik felt the same way and in that they have bonded. If you couldn't convince him, you never would have convinced her."

"I don't believe that's true, but you do know her better than I do." I stood up and helped Charles exit my room. "Get some rest. We have a long week ahead of us."

"Goodnight, ____."

That week was filled with a great deal of work to convert the mansion. Unbeknownst to me, before Erik had left, he, Charles, and Hank had built another version of Cerebro beneath the mansion so they wouldn't be tied to the government once they were done with the mission. Hank and I carried Charles down there and he used it to find a construction worker who was also a mutant. While they went to work on the inside, I began to convert the outside. 

Giant boulders were pulled up right next to each entrance that had a set of stairs. Using my mutation, I carved and molded each boulder until they were perfectly smooth and the correct angle needed for Charles to roll up to the door without any difficulty. Once the ramps were complete, I focused on the pathways that ran around the building and covered the lawn. Holding out my hands, I extended each path to make them wider and smooth out the gravel to make it easier for Charles to roll through his property. 

By the end of the week, the mansion had been turned into a proper school with easy access for Charles. Hank had even found time to make Charles a customized electric wheelchair that seemed to almost anticipate each move. The small group walked me to the auto court where Logan's bike was waiting for me.

"Thank you again, ____. For everything you have done these past couple of months."

"It was my honor, Charles. This felt good, it felt right. Now mutants won't have to hide who they are 24/7 like I did. They will have a place to call their own." I gave him a hug before giving one to Hank. "I know you may not want to hear it, but that fur is really soft."

Hank let out a laugh. "Thanks. I'm sure I'll eventually get used to it."

With one last final wave, I hopped onto the bike and headed back to Vermont. The ride up the highway was gorgeous, the leaves on the trees beginning to change while a chilling breeze tossed my hair behind me. It was only a half day's ride but I managed to make it in three, disregarding speed limits and sharp turns. As much as I had loved helping Charles, nothing would beat finally being home with Logan.

I knew he would hear me coming, though a part of me did wonder if he would be working when I rode up. I didn't bother to call to announce my return, wanting to surprise him all the more. As luck would have it, I rode right past his newest location for work. Slowing my bike, I could hear one of his coworkers whistle at me. 

"I dare you to do that louder. I don't think Logan heard you." I called over the sound of the engine.

Before he could retort, Logan spoke up behind him. "Yeah, Tom. I don't think you whistled loudly enough."

The guy scrambled out of the way as his friends laughed. I winked at Logan. “Hey, handsome! Know a place where a girl could crash for a few days?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Only a few?”

I shrugged. “Maybe I could be persuaded to stay longer.... if the company’s right.”

“I think I can help you with that. Let’s get that bike in my truck and get the fuck out of here.”

“Sold!” After pretending to struggle to get the bike in the back of the truck (faking being normal was exhausting), and Logan having a few choice words with his boss for leaving early, we were back home making up for the last two months.

“Missed you, kid.” He looked down at me as we laid on the bed.

“Missed you, too, bub. And while I’ll fill you in later, long story short: Shaw is no longer coming for me. Nothing will keep us apart now.”

“Good. ‘Cause as far as I’m concern, you can’t leave anymore.”

“Done.” I pulled him down to silence him with a kiss.


	4. Domestic Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader and Logan enjoy life without the complications of war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna try to insert some fluff because those X-Men movies are so full of drama. Good, but drama filled. Plus... if you’ve read Bringing Worlds Together you already have an idea of what kind of a note this book will end on.

“Logan, stop teasing him! You may heal, but you can’t grow limbs back!” I called out the window of our cabin, baffled to see Logan trying to play with a full grown wolf.

“You said you wanted a pet!”

“Are you for real?! If I wanted a wolf, I can control them for fuck sake! Can we please go to the pound like I asked?!”

Logan playfully shoved the wolf off of him and jogged up to our cabin. Amazingly, the wolf followed. The closer they came, the more I could see that the wolf was really a juvenile, no more than two years old. Stepping outside, I cautiously walked over to where Logan and the wolf stood. I wasn’t afraid the wolf would hurt me, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t startle it enough to harm Logan.

“I think he lost his pack. Looks like he wants to adopt us.” Logan casually guessed as the wolf pup bounded over to me and tackled me to the ground.

I laughed as I tried to get the pup to stop licking my face. “Ok, ok! He can stay! But he’s not living in the house. It’s too small for him.”

“So what are we going to name him?”

I looked into the yellow eyes and smiled. “How about Wolverine?”

“Wolverine?” Logan furrowed his eyebrows at me.

“Listen, this is a wild animal. Unless I use my mutation to summon him, we could call him sheep dip for all the good it will do us. At least this gives him a cool name to ignore.”

Logan started chuckling at ‘sheep dip’ and was full on laughing by the time I was done. “Ok, you have a point. And Wolverine is a pretty badass sounding name. How did you come up with it?”

I began to scratch the wolf behind his ears. “During my travels I came across a small animal that was quite content with its solitude minus a mate if they are lucky. It lives in remote, frozen areas. And its strength is amazing. For such a small creature, it can take down animals far larger than itself.” I stopped and glanced up at Logan. “Hm, maybe it’s a better name for you.”

Logan smirked down at me. “Smartass. So what are we going to feed Wolverine?”

“We won’t feed him anything. He needs to learn how to hunt for himself. I’ll help and teach that the farm animals are off limits. Don’t need some half-crazed farmer coming after him or us.”

“Good idea. I’ll come along. Pack activity!”

I laughed at his joke and went back into the cabin to grab my cloak. And this became a ritual for the three of us: taking Wolverine out to hunt. And in a weird way, he became the child we couldn’t have. He would walk Logan to his truck each morning, jog alongside as I wandered the woods, and eventually wormed his way into the cabin to sleep in front of the fireplace.

"Your son is sniffing at the smokehouse, again." I muttered as I continued to cut the potatoes for dinner.

"My son? Why is he only my son when he misbehaves?"

"Where do you think he gets it from, my love?" I smirked but kept my head down.

"Well, maybe he needs to spend more time with his mom." Logan came up from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "I know I would like a little one-on-one time with you."

"Soon. First make sure Wolverine hasn't dug under the damn walls again. Last time he almost ate our entire supply for winter." I turned my head to give him a kiss before he left out the door. Growling soon crept in through the open cabin door followed by a loud bark. "Wolverine, listen to your father! Don't make me come out there!"

"Why don't you just use your mutation on him?"

"I'm trying to let him keep his free will, damnit!" Sighing, I put down the knife and stood in the doorway. Logan had shoved the wolf away from the smokehouse and they were in a staring contest. "Wolverine..."

The wolf looked up at my unhappy face and lowered his ears. He slowly trotted over and licked at my hands while trying to plead with his eyes.

"Don't give me that look! You know you have to hunt for your own food. Now go on before I make you leave." The wolf sulked off to the tree line before bolting off to do some hunting. I sighed and looked at Logan. "He's getting too big to keep. And in another five years we'll have to leave this area. Or completely shut ourselves off from society."

Logan nodded his head. "Yeah. To be honest I never thought we'd get the three years we've had with him. But he clearly has a mind of his own and will eat all our food if we let him."

“Yeah, can’t let him take away your day job.”

“Ok, that’s it! Dinner is gonna have to wait!” I squealed as he scooped me up and carried me back into the cabin.

That night as we laid in bed, dinner long forgotten, we could hear a long howl ring through the forest. I ran my fingers over Logan’s chest when a second howl joined the first. And that’s when it dawned on me.

“He needs a mate.” I mumbled.

“What?”

I lifted my head to look at Logan. “Wolverine needs a mate. To start his own pack. We’ve taught him how to survive, but he’s at least five years old now. He needs his own family.”

Logan blinked at the simplicity of my plan. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of that before.”

“We were too busy being caught up in having a kid for once.”

He nodded his head as I laid mine back on his chest. “Do you ever think of adopting?”

“How could we? Logan, we never age. The kid would be moved around their whole life. And if they’re not a mutant? How do you explain that? How do you explain we will outlive them? I know you really want a child, but unless they heal like us....”

He sighed and pulled me closer. “I know, I know. But you know what? Even if we can never have any kids of our own, I'm ok with that as long as I have you."

"For such a big, tough guy, you really have a big, soft heart."

Logan chuckled. "Don't let it get around. I have a reputation to maintain."

"Never, my love."

The next morning, after Logan left for work, I changed into jeans, a flannel shirt, and a pair of boots so I could wander the woods to find my wolf. The forest thickened around me, but there was no sign of Wolverine. Finally, I gently reached out with my mutation to feel all the wildlife around me. A wolf came around the corner, but I knew instantly it wasn't the one who had been hanging around my cabin.

Crouching down, I extending my hand palm up. "Hey there. Were you the one singing with my son last night?"

The young wolf slowly approached me to sniff my hand. Using my mutation, I let them know I wasn't a threat. I began to stroke the fur behind the ears and took a quick peek at the body. 

"Well hello, little lady. Have you seen my wolf?"

As if on cue, Wolverine bounded past some trees right up to me and the other wolf. He nuzzled my neck until I relented and scratched behind his ears. Seeing that I was on the level, the other wolf scooted in closer and tried to fight for attention. Wolverine wasn't caring for sharing his mom.

I laughed. "Ok, you two. I do have two hands so no fighting now. You know, this is exactly what Logan and I were talking about last night: you finding a friend."

Wolverine just nudged the other wolf with his head and she butted back.

"It's ok, you know. You couldn't live with us forever." Wolverine gave me a lick up the side of the face. "Just promise to visit once the first pup comes around."

Wolverine let out a whine but slowly backed away from me. He let out a yip and the other wolf walked over to him. I remained crouching as I watched the two wolves walk deep into the woods.

"Well, that was fast."

I looked over my shoulder at Logan. "I thought you had to work today?"

"Yeah, but something told me you need me here instead."

Standing up, I walked over to him and put my arms around his waist. "I guess it's just you and me again."

"Guess so. Does this make me your Wolverine now?"

I smiled. "I guess it does."


	5. The Future is Nigh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader wakes up one day to shocking news from Logan. News that is very hard to believe.

"Oh God! ____, you're alive!" I was jostled out of my sleep the moment Logan rolled his full body on top of me. Because of my super strength, it didn't hurt but it did stop any attempt at getting back to sleep.

"Holy hell, Logan! It's 6am! What happened with trying to sleep in? Wasn't that the purpose of moving to upstate New York? For solitude?" I turned my head as best I could to look at him. "And of course I'm alive. I can't die, remember?"

"This is serious! We need to go see the Professor." He sat up in our bed.

That stopped me and I shifted to get a good look at him. "The Professor? As in Charles? Since when do you know Charles other than what I've told you? And why do you need to see him?"

He sighed, standing up to grab his pants from the floor. "This...this is going to be hard to believe."

"Well, I just celebrated my 400th birthday a few years back. There's very little I haven't seen or heard, so try me."

"I'm not- I'm not the Logan you know. I was sent back from the future into my younger body."

"You're right, that is a new one." I stood up and grabbed my robe from a nearby chair. "Ok, so you were sent back from the future to be in your younger body in 1973. What year were you sent from?"

"2024."

"Fifty years. Hmm, ok. Why and who sent you?" I was unsure what was going on, but I knew it wasn't a joke. Logan had a great sense of humor, but it was more sarcastic and cynical like my own rather than practical jokes. Maybe he got a head injury even he couldn't repair?

"The Professor sent me to prevent a war. Fifty years from now sentinels rule the Earth, hunting down all mutants and any humans that may carry the X-Gene or even have the X-Gene that was never activated. The program that started the sentinels was created a couple of years early than today, but it was this year that they were given the green light."

"Why now?" I stood in the kitchen making a pot of coffee, though gods know the last thing Logan needed was caffeine. 

"Raven. She murders the man in charge of the program and it gets everything green lit. They capture her and use her DNA in the sentinels, to not only be able to hunt us down but adapt to our powers."

I sighed at this. "I always knew she would come back to bite us all in the ass." Something odd then occurred to me; a tiny hole in the story. "Logan, why were you the one sent back? You're not a joiner. Why wasn't it me?"

Logan refused to meet my eyes as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Because I can heal as fast as I am torn apart."

"Logan, I can't die. As long as the Earth is alive, so am I. Why wasn't I the one sent?"

He set the pot down, but still refused to answer.

"Logan! Why wasn't it me?!"

"Because in the future you're dead!"

"What?! That's not possible!"

He set his mug down and pulled me into his arms. I could feel his body shake and it suddenly made sense why he was so excited to see me when he woke up.

I forced myself to ask the question I didn't want to know the answer to. "Logan, what happened? How did I die?"

He refused to let me go as he spoke. "The war. It slowly killed the planet. You were trying your best to counteract every measure made, but in the end it was too much. The sentinels scorched the planet; nothing was left living except humans and mutants. We were surviving off synthetic food. With the planet dead, you only had control over wind, lightning, and fire. And even those weren't as strong as they once had been. You were fine at first, until you went to battle against a half of dozen sentinels at once."

I didn't need him to finish his story; it was obvious what had happened. I may have won whatever battle I had fought, but the wounds had been too great for me to survive without the Earth to heal me. "Were... were we together in the end?"

Logan held me tighter. "We were, though it wasn't long enough. At one point we were separated and when we found each other again, I couldn't remember you, me, or us. This was right after the turn of the millennia. By the time we found our rhythm again, the war was under full swing."

Closing my eyes, I took a ragged breath. "If what you're saying is true, then we can't delay. We need to get to Charles now."

We quickly dressed and piled into the truck with me driving since I knew where we were heading. Though Logan insisted he knew where to go as that's where he and I had been living before the war started.

"This won't be easy for us to convince the Professor. According to what he told me in the future, he doesn't have his powers right now."

"What? How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but we also need Magneto's help."

I damn near swerved off the road at that. "We'll need Erik? No way Charles would say that."

"It wasn't Charles who told me, it was Erik. We've all been working together to survive the war."

"Well now I know you're telling the truth considering I never told you the nickname Raven gave him."

"Raven gave him that name?"

"Yeah, after I turned him down, the two of them got together and left shortly after Cuba."

"Wait, Magneto hit on you?" He had a horrified look on his face.

"Yeah, I didn't think to mention it because it's not like I was tempted or anything. I love you." Logan just shook his head. "Ah, ok I get it. You've only seen Erik as an old man considering you probably didn't pay too much attention to what he looked like when they approached us in that bar. Still, it's no contest. As I said, I love you."

Soon we had pulled up to the school's gates and my jaw dropped. The gate was covered in rust, wild vines grew over the brick fence, and the sign for the school had fallen off the pilar. "What happened here? Charles was supposed to contact me if he needed my help."

"Hard to do considering we barely stay in one place."

"No, but he could have used Cerebro."

"He has Cerebro now?"

"Built it in 1962 with the help of Hank and Erik." I climbed out of the truck and pushed the fence open. We made our way up to the door and knocked. Hank slowly opened the door, but was unable to see me as I stood to Logan's left.

"Who are you?"

"Hank McCoy."

"You're Beast?" Logan asked. I was just as puzzled as Hank was no longer covered in his blue fur. "I need to talk to the Professor."

"I don't know what you're talking about. And there's no Professor here." Hank went to close the door, but Logan stopped him.

"Pretty strong for a skinny kid." He shoved the door open and walked inside. I followed after just in time to see Hank morph into Beast and grab Logan to throw him across the room.

"Hank, stop!" I sent an electrical current through the air, hitting Hank in the chest. He flew back into the wall and jumped back up to charge. I crouched in front of Logan, my hands sparking with electricity.

"____? Is that you?" Hank put his hands down and slowly walked over.

"Of course it is. What's going on? Why weren't you blue when you answered the door?"

"It's a serum I developed. It helps keep my.... condition under control. Charles uses it as well."

"Where is he? It's urgent we talk to him. And what happened to the school? I thought you guys were supposed to call me when something went wrong?"

Hank looked down as he slowly lost his blue color. "He can't use Cerebro anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

Before he could answer, a familiar voice floated down the stairs. "Hank? What's going on down there?"

I lifted my head to watch Charles walk, WALK, down the stairs to where we stood in the foyer. "Charles... you're walking."

"Aren't you perceptive, my dear Mother Nature?"

I jerked my head back at the cynicism pouring out of him. "Charles, what the hell is going on?"

He ignored my question and instead pointed at Logan. "Who's he?"

"Charles, don't you remember me talking about Logan?"

"Ah, yes. The gentleman who so kindly told us to fuck off. Why have you brought him here?"

Logan spoke up. "Because we need your help. I was sent back from the future to find you and prevent a war."

"Is that so?" Charles chuckled. "Well, tell whoever sent you that I am unavailable at this time."

"That's going to be a problem, because the person who sent me.... was you."

Charles and Hank had begun walking towards the other room, but stopped at that moment to look at Logan and I. "I beg your pardon?"


	6. Prison Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader, Logan, and Charles need Erik's help capturing Raven. But first they need to set him free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I didn't realize this until AFTER I finished this series, but there is literally both versions of Quicksilver in my story. Completely unintentional as I didn't re-read Bringing Worlds Together as I wrote this so that's on me, in case anyone feels the need to point this out. Let's all pretend they are two different people and I'll be more careful in the future, lol!

The rest of that day was spent going around in circles: Logan explaining what happened in the future, myself saying I chose to believe him, Charles telling the story of what happened to the school. Hank mostly sitting there, only occasionally adding something to Charles' story. 

"Charles, what happened to your legs? Why are you able to walk?" I walked over and sat on his coffee table, across from him on the couch.

He frowned at my choice of seat, but didn't comment on it. "The serum Hank develop controls the use of my legs, but it comes at a cost of my powers. The more I use, the less I hear, and the more I can use my legs again. And frankly, I prefer it that way."

"So you're giving up? Just like that?"

"What do you mean 'just like that'? Do you have any idea what has been going on here?!"

"Other than by what you and Hank just told me? No! Because you refused to call me like you promised! But don't think for one moment you're gonna get any sympathy from me! I'm sorry you lost some of your students and teachers. I can't change that. But we can make sure we don't lose any more to this next war."

"You'll have to do it without me." He stood up and made his way to exit the room.

Without thinking twice I was up in a flash, grabbing Charles by his shirt and slammed him against the wall. He couldn't hide the shocked look on his face. "Charles, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Logan. I care about you, you mean a lot to me. But don't think for one second I will put you before the Earth. It will never be that way. I have one job and I plan to keep living long enough to do it. And if you won't help us stop Raven, the Earth will die. And so will I, as well as every other mutant and human on this planet."

He looked into my eyes for so long, I almost thought he got his powers back. "Fine, I'll help you. Can you put me down now?"

I gave him a smirk and lowered him back to his feet. "Sorry, got a bit carried away."

"I'm the wrong person to ask for help. Raven won't listen to me. Her heart and soul belongs to another."

Logan spoke up then. "I know. That's why we need Magneto as well."

Charles started laughing and Hank looked confused. "Erik? You do know where he is, right?"

"Yup." Was Logan's only response.

Charles looked back at me and I shook my head. "Look, it was one thing for me to destroy Shaw's underground bunker, but the Pentagon? Using me would be a bit on the overkill spectrum. We're trying to keep the government from hating mutants even more."

"So how do you propose we free Erik?"

Logan stepped forward. "I know someone. He'd be a young man by now. Lives outside of D.C. But we can't use Cerebro, can we?"

"Not unless you magically gain telepathy along with the ability to travel through time." Logan frowned at my sarcastic response.

Hank pipped up. "We have a phone book."

After an hour of digging through a couple of yellow pages, flying to D.C. on Charles' private jet, and then renting a car, all four of us were soon in front of the home of Peter Maximoff. A woman (I assume his mother) came to the door and immediately had a sour look on her face.

"What did he do this time? Just tell me what he took and I'll cut you a check."

"We just want to talk to him." Logan spoke calmly.

The woman sighed and called out to the house. "Peter, the cops are here.... again."

She pointed in the direction of the basement and we descended the stairs. In the basement, a blur was moving from one side of the room to the other, playing table tennis against itself. Upon a second look I could see the blur was a person. 

The blur spoke as it ran around the room, playing with either the arcade game in the corner, or back at the table tennis. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it. I've been here all day."

"Relax, Peter. We're not cops." Logan stated.

"Of course you're not cops. You wouldn't be driving a rental car if you were."

"How did you-" Charles started to ask.

"I took a look at your registration while I was waiting for you. Are you FBI?" The blur grabbed Charles wallet and dropped it just as quickly. "What with the card?"

"It's... it's an old card." Charles picked up his card about the former school.

Hank had a smile on his face. "He's fascinating."

"He's a pain in the ass." Charles muttered.

"What? A teleporter?"

"No," Logan sighed. "Just really fast."

Getting tired of trying to follow the blur, I tossed up an ice wall in mere seconds. Peter slid and stumbled, trying to avoid the obstacle that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. He stumbled back into a wall and looked at the three of us. "What the hell was that?"

"Oh look at that, you can sit still." I cocked at eyebrow at the kid. "I find it easier to talk to someone when I can look them in the eye."

He pushed off the wall and walked over to my ice structure. "You did this? How? And so quickly. I barely saw it in time."

"You're not the only one with gifts. We need your help."

"My help? If you can do that why do you need me?"

"Because what we need done requires more finesse than just moving the Earth. That just seems excessive, don't you think?"

Peter's eyes grew wide at my words. "Wait a minute. Move the earth?!”

“Can we focus? We don’t really have time to go over what each of us can do. Just know we need your help. We need to break someone out of prison”

“Prison break? That’s illegal.”

I looked around the room, eyeing his stolen goods. “Odd moment to make a moral choice, don’t you think?”

“And it’s only illegal if you get caught.” Logan added.

“What’s in it for me?”

Charles chuckled. “Because you, you little klepto, will help us break into the Pentagon.”

Peter looked up at us and smiled. The five of us were soon piled back into the car and headed to the airport. They dropped me off to wait with the plane as I felt I would be one body too many. I paced the length of the plane as I waited. The longer I waited, the more I felt I should have gone with them. Could haves, would haves, should haves rolled around in my head, refusing to cease until I heard a car roll onto the tarmac.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Logan strolled through the door. "You made it."

"Sure did, kid. Peter was a big help getting us out of a few binds." He planted a quick kiss on my forehead before pouring himself a drink and sitting down.

After taking a deep breath, I went to pour myself a drink as more people boarded the plane. Soon I felt a presence at my back and out of the corner of my eye I saw Logan sit up a little straighter. "Hello, Erik. How was your concrete room?"

"The solitude was nice, while it lasted. What brought you out of your cave, Mother Nature?" We could feel the shift as the plane began to ascend.

"The fate of the future, the Earth, and apparently my very life. They told you why they freed you?" I took a sip of my drink.

"Yes, though it still doesn't explain why you're here."

"Seeing as Charles doesn't know how to call me when he's supposed to, I felt I was needed as supervision." Walking over to Logan, I placed my drink on the table he sat at.

"Yes, he does have a way of abandoning people."

I whirled to face him. "Excuse me? Who's the one who took Charles' sister and left him bleeding on a beach in Cuba?!"

"Raven chose to leave with me! I was not an X-Men!"

"No, you decided to take the rest of the Hellfire Club and fucking rebrand yourselves as the Brotherhood! Same evil, different name!"

"How dare you?!"

"She's right, Erik." Charles chimed in. "You abandoned us!"

Erik's eyes became focused on Charles and the plane began to shake. "Angel. Azazel. Banshee. Emma. Countless others. All dead!"

The plane began to groan as I could hear the walls beginning to cave inward. Hank spoke up from the pilot's seat. "Erik?"

"Brothers and sisters dead while you and Hank hid from the world, pretending to be something you're not! You abandoned us!"

"Erik?!"

Hank was losing control of the plane and we began to plummet. My eyes and hair glowed white as I tried to summoned winds to slow our decent. The unexpected light radiating from me distracted Erik long enough for Hank to regain control. Erik shook his head and the plane began to return to its old form.

I stepped right up into Erik's face as my eyes faded back to silver and my hair to its mix of black, silver, white, and grey. "If you ever do that again, I will not hesitate to throw your ass out the door while we're in flight. After setting you on fire."

"So," Logan casually started as he began to light a cigar, "you were always an asshole."

Erik pulled his eyes away from me to look at Logan. "I take it you and I are best friends in the future?"

"I spent a good few years hunting you down, bub."

"And how has that worked out?"

"You're like me and ____. You're a survivor." He took a pull on his cigar.

Erik turned to face me, not saying a word but his question clear in his eyes.  _You turned me down, to stay with this creature?_

"Why don't you take a seat, Magneto, before you cause another mess?" Logan quipped.

"And what do they call you?" Erik barely turned to look back at Logan.

Logan briefly looked at me before answer. "I'm the Wolverine."

"How apt." Erik sneered while I cocked an eyebrow.

"It was the nickname my girl gave our son. After we had to let him go, I took the mantle for her."

Erik looked back at me as I smiled softly at Logan. I walked over and sat across from him so the conversation could be more private. "You kept the name?"

Logan nodded and leaned in to speak to me. "Yeah, after we got separated it became a way I could stay connected to you. Even after I lost my memory. I refused to change my name because all I remembered was that it was important to someone who had been important to me."

"I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that part of history doesn't repeat itself."

"Same here, kid."


	7. Securing the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader, Logan, Charles, and Hank collect themselves after failing to capture Mystic. Then give it one last shot in D.C.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't feel it's necessary to do a play-by-play of the movies covered in the timeline, so I'm trying to streamline this as much as possible.
> 
> Also fixed the dates from chapter 5.
> 
> And clearly not finishing this as fast as I wanted. Sorry!

Forty-eight hours after freeing Erik, and already I regretted every moment. We were supposed to stop Raven, capture her, and try to reason with her. But she was dead set on killing Trask and that made Erik dead set on killing her.  But he failed in that task when Hank and I stood in his way. Hank, by trying to drown him; me by electrocuting his ass. Both events in front of a large group of people. In the end, both Raven and Erik escaped.

Now we were on the plane back to the mansion from Paris, Logan sitting off by himself. According to Charles, Logan had a mental slip while I was dealing with Erik, but Logan refused to talk about it. Only stating he saw someone that was going to bring him a lot of pain in the future. Not exactly comforting words.

I took a seat across from Charles as he stared at the chess board he and Erik used mere hours ago. Reaching across the board, I took his hand. “Charles...”

“I know what you’re going to say. But what can I do now?”

“We’ll figure it out once we get back to the mansion. We’ll regroup. If... if the sentinels get the green light, it stands to believe they will be revealed in the states.”

“And what makes you so sure about that?”

“Nixon’s ego. If this is the wave of the future, he’ll want to go down in history as the man who helped save humanity.”

Charles squeezed my hand. “Thank you, _____. For being here. For you and Logan pulling me out of my hole.”

“Of course, Charles. You are my friend and will always be.”

“Even when I’m an old man?”

“Especially when you’re an old man. Who else is gonna come by and make sure those ramps stay up to code?” Charles chuckled at that. “Speaking of that property, while you boys plot your next step, I’ll make sure your property is back in order.”

“Thank you, ____. I am a bit ashamed I let it get that far gone.”

“It’s ok. It can happen to the best of us.”

Once we were back at the mansion, Charles stumbled and collapsed on the floor. Hank and Logan rushed to help him up.

“You’ve gone too long without your shots. I’ll get you some more.” Hank moved Charles to the couch.

“I don’t take it for my legs. I take it so I can’t hear the voices anymore.”

“Charles,” I knelt down at his feet, “I can understand the desire to block it all out. But we need you. The future needs you. Please, help us. Use Cerebro to find Raven.”

Charles nodded his head and allowed me to bring his wheelchair over. I watched as he, Logan, and Hank headed to the elevator that would take them to Cerebro. I was about to walk out the door to care for his lawn until they were done, when the entire house had an electrical shortage. I raced down the stairs and down the hall to the open Cerebro door. I skidded to a stopped when I saw Charles touching Logan’s forehead, clearly searching for something in his mind.

Charles flinched from Logan’s mind and nodded his head. Logan looked up at me as Charles wheeled back over to Cerebro, the lights flickering back on. I slowly walked over to the doorway as Hank jogged back into the room.

“Is everything alright?” I asked Logan.

“Yeah, he just needed an extra push that I couldn’t give him. So he searched my head for his future self.”

“He caused the short?”

“I think so. Was too overwhelmed after not using his powers for so many years.”

I took a deep breath and followed them, feeling the door slide close behind me. Soon the room was dark except for the holograms of each person Charles was able to mentally connect with. We watched as Charles hopped from mind to mind, trying to talk to Raven through them. He was still too weak to try to stop her himself. But he failed to halt her actions through others, only able to see her plane ticket. She was heading to D.C., confirming what I had hypothesized earlier about the sentinels being stateside.

Since Raven was flying in from Europe, we had a little extra time to prepare. As Logan and Charles loaded the car to drive to D.C., Hank called me into his lab. I slowly walked into the room, noting how much it had changed since I last saw it a decade ago.

"What's up, Hank? Is this important, because we need to hit the road soon."

"Yeah, sorry ____. This is an important conversation. One we should have had ten years ago, but I got distracted with what happened to Charles."

"Ok, what's on your mind?" I pulled up a chair to his lab table.

"Remember how Charles and I were trying to test your mutation to see why you were harming people other than Logan? Well, we still haven't figured out that mystery, but I have discovered a few things about your body."

"Such as what?"

"Such as you're missing a few organs."

I nodded my head. "I figured that was the case. I don't remember much about the night I was saved, but I do remember I was tortured on some level. What am I missing?"

"Luckily nothing too essential: your spleen, one kidney, and your uterus. With your ability to heal from the Earth, the lack of spleen and kidney hasn't, nor will ever, effect you like it might a normal person."

"Well that's good to know. Anything else?"

"Only that it is going to take us a lot longer than I thought to figure out what it is your mutation is doing to others. Erik did have a good theory, but it doesn't seem to make sense. I think it's more for protection."

"Hopefully I'll never lose Logan and have to find out which it is." I stood up from my chair. "Thanks, Hank, for all that you and Charles have tried to find out in regards to me. Now let's go save the future."

Hank groaned at me. “That was a real lame way to phrase this mission.”

“Look, I’m 405 years old. Not even thing that comes out of my ancient mouth is going to be a winner. Let’s go, smartass.”

After another short flight, we were making our way through a crowd on the White House lawn. Charles had gain more of his powers back and used them to get us past all the security. Logan stopped right on the other side of the metal detector and gave it a weird look.

"What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just not used to going through one of those without it making a huge fuss."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Like I said, it's nothing. Just an adjustment I have to make in the future is all."

Logan kept walking, leaving me to catch up as I tried to process his words. Before I could question further, Charles had located Raven. She was disguised as a secret service agent and Charles was able to freeze her right as she was about to pull out her gun. He was trying to talk her down when suddenly the sentinels powered on. My head snapped towards the robots as they lifted off the ground.

“What are you doing? We’re not here to show a live demonstration?” I barely caught Trask’s words above the roar of the crowd. That meant he wasn’t in control and this was a different game now.

Before I could move an inch towards Logan, the sentinels began to fire on the crowd and nearby police cars. We all scattered to take cover as a large circular structure (I believe a nearby baseball stadium) was dropped to form an impenetrable wall. Erik came floating in from above, making it clear he was the one in control of the sentinels. As he positioned all but one as guards around the boarder, I could hear Charles calling for help somewhere in the debris. 

I never had a chance to find where he was trapped as the sentinel left standing began firing on myself as well as Hank and Logan. They immediately teamed up to take the robot down while I conjured tornados to attack the ones on guard. Pieces of plastic from the original design as well as the metal Erik had snuck in began to rain down. A deep groaning sound pulled me out of my assault on the robots. Erik was trying to pull the presidential bunker out of the White House. Shooting a stream of fire at him, I dodged the random metal pieces he flung in my direction. Logan leaped at Erik, his claws out with the intent to rip Erik to shreds if it meant stopping all of this.

Erik halted his attack on me and began to pierce Logan's body with the iron barbs from a chunk of concrete. The noise that left my mouth wasn't human. 

"So much for being a survivor." Erik whispered before sending Logan over the barrier. My connections to the Earth was the only reason why I knew he was tossed into the nearest river.

Time stopped for me at that moment. Nothing mattered anymore: the future, the fate of the Earth, the fate of my kind. My own life. There was only one thing on my mind: I had just lost Logan. 

Slowly I turned to face Erik, my powers flowing freely through my body. My hair and eyes rapidly flipped through each color that was attached to a power: dark blue, deep green, silvery white, silvery blue, earthy brown, fiery red. Over and over in rapid session until all the colors merged into black. Even my eyes, bleeding out from the irises to turn the whites the darkest black. 

Erik had managed to pull the bunker out of the White House while I was transforming. He ripped one of the walls away and all eyes were on him. But only for a brief moment as they soon spotted me in all my fury. Erik furrowed his eyebrows and turned to face me, real fear filling his face and draining it of any color. Without even having to move my hands, I called down lightning from the sky. They rained down like bullets in a single line heading straight for my target. Erik was barely able to get out of the way, but soon I had called up roots from the nearest trees to wrap up each arm and leg. I began to pull him beneath the surface of the Earth as I slowly walked towards him. He tried to use his powers to toss any random metal item he could see, but it was either blasted to pieces by lightning, torched by fire, or blown away by a powerful wind before it could even get within two feet of me.

Despite the open fury on my face, my voice was calm and steady. "We had one job, Erik. To change the future. To save our kind. You had a chance to be a hero to our people and to the world. Instead you decided to spit upon it and opted to try to murder the President!"

A root slowly wrapped around Erik's neck as he begged me with his eyes. "____, don't do this. I need to stop this President."

"The only ones who need to be stopped are you and Raven." As if to prove my point, I pulled him even farther under the ground.

 ______,_ Charles spoke inside my mind,  _don't. Let him go. I know what he did hurt you. But this will not help our cause any more than what he and Raven are trying to do._

Tears filled my eyes but refused to drop. "Get out of my head, Charles! You don't know what it's like to be alone. Truly alone. For centuries!"

_I know and I would never presume to understand how that feels. I can't stop you; you're far too powerful. But please. You know Logan wouldn't want this for you. After all the trouble he went through to convince us and giving his life to save yours._

That was my undoing. I dropped to my knees as the tears began to fall. Logan may truly be gone if Charles was saying he was. My grief consumed me, causing my powers to recede. The black drained from my hair and eyes, the roots holding Erik slowly drawing away from him and back into the dirt. He slowly climbed out of the hole his body had been making but didn't move beyond that. Erik and I stayed there, starring at each other as I could faintly hear Charles once again trying to talk Raven out of killing Trask. She finally chose to listen, dropping the gun and limping off. 

Erik finally spoke. "Charles, if you allow them to take me you know I won't be allowed to live."

I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from speaking my mind as Charles nodded his head. Erik began to use the magnetic field around him to lift off the ground.

"Hey!" Erik looked down at me. I gestured around us. "Clean up your fucking toys before you leave, young man!"

He gave me a very small smile and lifted the stadium with him, floating off to try and put it back. Charles and Hank came as close as possible to me with all the debris that surrounded us. I could barely make out the conversation of the people around me, calling myself and Raven heroes for stopping an assassination attempt on the President and Trask being charged with putting the President in danger in the first place.

"____," Charles began.

I just shook my head. "No, Charles. I won't be returning to the school. I need to find Logan's body and bury him. You can always call on me when you need help and I hope you'll listen this time. But you will not see me again until that day comes. I need time to mourn."

Without looking at either one of them - or even anyone else around me for that matter - I began my walk to the river to fetch Logan's body. Once I reached the river bed, I could see what looked like a police boat lifting something out of the water. No, not something. Logan! Calling the winds, the words of those aboard the boat floated over to me. It was a police boat, and William Stryker was on board. My heart sunk again. He was just as evil as Trask when it came to mutants. Even if Logan wasn't dead, I know I had lost him for good.

I closed my eyes, tears flowing again. "Logan, I am so sorry. I love you."


	8. Fallen Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trying to drown out her past, Reader comes across a pilot in distress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I decided I won't cover X-Men Apocalypse as this is taking way longer than I anticipated to write. Reader's involvement will be mentioned in this and other remaining chapters.
> 
> Also, I put 12 chapters, but I honestly have no clue. It could end up shorter or longer than that.

Days passed into weeks, into months, into years. I couldn't seem to find my rhythm anymore so I mostly kept to myself. Though I did keep my word to Charles about always being there when either he, the school, or both needed me. Granted the last time he didn't actually have to summon me himself as it had been hard to ignore the Earth literally being pulled apart. It had been the only other time in my existence that I came across a mutant older than myself. And frankly, if immortality gave you a god complex maybe I should hope my time on Earth has a shelf life. Especially if it gives you the balls to call yourself Apocalypse. 

It had only been a mere ten years after the last world ending event, and yet there I was once again helping Charles and facing off against Erik and a few others. Luckily, Charles' newest students were there to help save the day, one of them - a young Jean Grey - showing more power than I ever thought was possible. I had gone back with everyone afterwards to help rebuild the school as it had been blown up days earlier, taking the time to catch up with Hank, Charles, and now Raven as she chose to stay on as a teacher. The hard part was rebuilding the school. Erik had finally seen the error of his ways and came along to help Jean and myself put the mansion back together. He turned down Charles' offer to teach at the school - as had I - but then tried to follow me outside.

"____, if I could speak to you for a moment."

"No, you may not, Erik."

He sighed. "I want to apologize about Logan."

"See, I could have sworn I just said I didn't want to talk to you." I continued to walk straight for the outlining forest. "I'm really not in the mood for whatever lame, half-ass excuse you have for your temper tantrum ten years ago. Or the one you tried to pull just a few days ago. I'm sorry you lost your family when you were trying to rebuild your life, but that's exactly how I've felt ever since that day you launched Logan into the river."

Erik sighed again and moved to stand in front of me. My eyes instantly burned red as my hands began to cover themselves in flames. He held up his hands in surrender. "I know I hurt you and I can't possibly begin to make it up to you. But please, let me at least try. I know I can't bring Logan back; I can't even begin to fathom where he could be held at this moment. But I want to show you I have sincerely changed."

My hands cooled as my eyes returned to normal. "What do you want, Erik?"

"I've never stopped thinking that we are equally matched. Maybe not so much in power, but in mind and soul. We have both suffered tremendously at the hands of others. We both know what it's like to lose everything. I want you to come with me. We can go anywhere in the world and make a little spot our own. I know I'm not Logan, but perhaps one day I can make you just as happy."

I tilted my head to look up at the sky before returning my eyes to Erik. "You know, I always thought you and Charles were some of the smartest people I knew, along with Hank. But clearly common sense isn't a readily available super power. You're damn right in that you're not Logan. Mainly because you're the one who filled him with iron barbs and tossed him in a fucking river! And now he's in the hands of Stryker and fuck only knows if he's even still alive! There maybe a day where I can forgive you, but it's not today. Hell, it may even come after your long dead in the ground. But you cannot possibly think that I would one day share a bed with the man that killed my mate."

Erik slowly nodded his head. "I understand. If you ever change your mind, you'll know how to find me."

I took one last look at his face. In a sense, he was right. Very few people in the world would understand what we had been through. In another lifetime, we would have been a perfect pair. But I would never be able to look at him without thinking of what he did to Logan. So I just gave Erik a curt nod of my head and continued my path to the forest.

The next few years after that blended together. The change in fashion of the people I was occasionally around was my only indication of the passage of time. Without really meaning to, I was back in Canada only this time in Ontario. I found a large clearly that seemed to mostly remain undisturbed except for the occasional arctic animal rolling through. I built a cabin on one end and used the rest of the clearing to set up a camp of some sorts, complete with an outdoor cooking area.

I made friends with the local wildlife and soon we secured a perimeter around my new property. Using the nearest farmers market, I made a few acquaintances in the town. Mostly this was for my benefit of not becoming feral. And to keep better track of the passing years.

Keeping accurate track of the time forced me to bring myself into the present. And the present was filled with painful reminders. I took up correspondence with Charles via mail, using a post office box in town. He was glad I hadn’t run off too far, though he still openly wished I would return to the school. But I knew I wasn’t ready for that. Everytime I thought of the school, of the people left behind, I automatically thought of Logan. It didn’t help that once a month Charles would write to say they had a visit from Erik who always asked how I was doing. Those few sentences would open the wounds once more and thanks to my healing ability, I couldn’t drink the pain away like a normal person.

The more Charles mentioned Erik, the less I wrote back. I knew he didn’t mean any harm, only wanting two of his oldest friends to be on the same page again. But the pain of losing my companion of almost 70 years was too much for me to currently bear. I wasn’t ready to make peace.

Around the early 1990s, Charles began to express concern for his student, Jean Grey. He was afraid her powers were growing out of control. I had glimpsed them almost ten years back so I could understand Charles’ concern. But I never had a chance to see if he needed my help.

One night I was walking back from the town, having sent off a letter to Charles asking what had happened in Red Hook. News had reached all the way to my little town, so I knew Jean’s powers had to have reached a breaking point. The night was beautiful and peaceful, the type of night Logan and I would have gone out for a stroll. Maybe even would have taken Wolverine with us had he stayed. I was losing everyone from my past. The downside to immortality.

The sound of a struggling jet engine pulled me out of my thoughts. I searched the skies until I was able to locate the source. At first glance I could see it was an American fighter jet, though what it was doing so far north was beyond me. I could tell the pilot had lost full control and didn’t seem to be able to eject himself.

I lifted my hands and used the winds to slow the jet’s decent, adding snow to the ground below at the same time. Guiding the plane, I positioned myself to be in the path as it first hit the ground then slid in my direction. I wrapped my arms around the nose of the jet as it tried to plow me over. My feet left trails in the snow as the jet pushed against my body. Finally, the plane came to a halt and I was able to let go to assess the damage.

The engine seemed to be smoking and the top window looked like it had tried to detached, but malfunctioned. I quickly climbed up the side onto the wing in order to be able to check on the pilot. The glass was opened by a crack on the side, but when I pulled it refused to budge. I didn’t hesitate to punch through the glass to get a better grip and rip the top clear off. The pilot was slumped over, but a quick check of his vitals told me he was still alive. Moving quickly, I scrambled on top of the jet and reached down to start ripping off his straps. Once he was free, I gingerly pulled him out of the seat, secured him in my arms, and leaped from the jet. I landed as softly as a cat, the pilot never moving.

Quickly, I flicked my hand towards the jet and snow filled the engine to cool whatever fire was trying to start. I then gently laid the pilot down so I could remove his helmet. His brown hair was a mess from his sweat and there was a touch of grey at his temples. I pried one eye open to check his pupils and his blue eye was staring past my silver ones. He was alive but certainly not conscious. I scooped him back into my arms and raced for my cabin.

Once inside, I laid him gently on my bed and immediately started a fire in the fireplace as well as my stove. The room quickly heated up as I put a kettle of water to boil. By the time I had a mug of tea ready, the pilot was beginning to stir.

“Easy, easy! You may have hit your head when you landed.” I placed the mug by the bed and gently pushed the man back down. “I did a quick check and nothing seems broken, but you could very well have whiplash or a concussion.”

He groaned. “Where am I?”

“Ontario. You plane crashed into the snow. Lucky for you I happened to be walking by.”

“My seat wouldn’t eject...” his voice trailed off and I handed him the cup of tea.

“I saw that. Luckily the top popped off when you landed. The hard part was getting you out. Clearly the US military doesn’t fuck around in regards to safety straps.” I helped him drink some of the tea before guiding him back to the pillow.

“I need to get back to my plane. They’ll be looking for me.”

“Not in that, they won’t be.” I nodded my head towards a window where a snow storm could be seen on the other side.

“Wow. I guess I am lucky you found me.”

I looked away, not wanting him to guess that the storm was my idea. True, he may never have heard of mutants or even met one if he had. But it was better to be safe than sorry. The storm would cause him to stay put long enough to heal and keep the military at bay.

He looked around my one room cabin. “Where.... where am I, really?”

I looked back and smiled. “As I said, Ontario. But more specifically, my cabin. I live in the woods just outside the nearest town.”

“How near?”

“Ten miles.”

“Then why didn’t you take me there?”

“Because you practically landed on my property. Plus, I don’t have a car.”

“You carried me back here?!”

“Of course. I couldn't just leave you inside a smoking jet.” I turned back away from him, letting my eyes go red. The flames in the fireplace dimmed, but the heat remained. Perfect to help him sleep. “You’ve had a long night. Get some rest.”

He took another look around my cabin. “Where will you sleep?”

“Normally, the couch. But as I plan to stay awake to keep an eye on you, it’s a moot point. Now sleep.” I could tell he wanted to protest, but as I pushed him down once more his eyelids grew heavy.

"Thank you for saving me.... uh.."

"My name is _____."

He smiled faintly at that. "That's a really nice name. I'm Everett."

"Nice to meet you, Everett." But he was already asleep.


	9. Search Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader helps Everett heal as the military searches for his downed jet.

Everett slept most of the next day, only waking up long enough to eat some soup. Come nightfall, he was a little more alert even as a lump had formed on the back of his head.

"Hey there, sleepy head. How are you feeling?" I handed him a cup of water as he sat up in the bed.

"Better, thank you. Except for this spot on my head." He gingerly touched the bump and immediately winced.

"Yeah, I'd leave that alone if I were you. I think you must have received that prize when you landed."

"How am I not dead? The force alone should have killed me. Or at least the plane crashing should have."

"You are very lucky. I'm sure the military will be able to tell you more."

"Has anyone come by yet?" I nodded my head at the storm still raging outside the window. "Oh."

"Don't worry. Once it eases up, I'll head to town and place a call. I'll grab the doctor, too, while I'm at it so he can catch anything I didn't."

"Thank you, ____. I don't know how I can ever repay you."

"Just rest, Everett. That's all the thanks I will need."

That night he moved around the cabin more and more. I still had a couple of Logan's old clothes (a useless hope that one day he would escape Stryker), so I pulled out a pair of jeans and a flannel for Everett to change in my bathroom. Unfortunately, it seemed that Everett was nearly half a foot shorter than Logan nor as built so he ended up in a pair of my jeans instead.

"Sorry, I wish I had better clothes for you to borrow. Though that does have to be better than your dirty flight suit." I folded up Logan's old jeans and gave them one last look before putting them back into the bottom drawer.

"It's ok, it is better than the suit. Will your husband mind me borrowing your pants? Is he due home soon?"

I kept my back to Everett as a single tear rolled down my face. Amazingly, my voice remained steady. "I was never married, but the owner of the shirt won't be returning. He died... a long time ago. I'm surprised I still had some of his clothes."

Everett cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. May I ask...?"

I wiped the tear from my face and turned to face him. "An old friend turned enemy betrayed us. It's complicated. How about dinner, instead? A little more filling that some weird story from the 70s."

"The 70s?! You look so young. You couldn’t possibly have been more than a kid? How old are you?"

I smiled at his genuine shock. If he only knew. "I'm 35 so I'm not too young and not too old. We were young and crazy in love. And you? You're either older than your face let's on or your job is causing your hair to grey early."

He chuckled at that. "No, early greys run in my family. I'm 27. I'm in my last few years as a pilot, then may go on to work for the CIA. You know, to speed up those greys."

"Yeah, that'll do it!" I giggled as I moved around my kitchen.

Everett had more of an appetite that night and he told me more stories as he had his second plate. “There seems to be something strange going on lately. That plane I was flying was a new design of Stark’s. I was only supposed to take it for a test flight, but...”

I wanted to ask him what happened, but I was momentarily side tracked. “Stark? As in Howard Stark?”

“No, his son Tony. Howard and Maria passed away last year. Did you know them?”

“Uh, no. But rumor has it my mom met him once at one of those World’s Fair.” The lying was starting to make me feel uncomfortable, though God only knows why. I barely knew this guy, why did I care if he didn’t know who - or what - I truly was? “So his son builds planes?”

“Not exactly. Stark Industries is well known for their weapons division. He’s still technically at school at MIT, but he still sends his new designs for the company until he’s ready to take over.”

“So what happened while you were out there?”

He shook his head. “I probably shouldn’t say anything. Not until I can talk to my bosses. I’m really sorry.”

“No, it’s completely understandable. Look, I think the storm is finally letting up. Make yourself at home and I’ll be back by dawn.”

“You’re going now? It’s after dark! I can’t let you risk your life for me like that.”

“Thank you, but I could make this walk even if I lost my sight. You need to rest your head.”

“At least let me come with.”

“Not a chance. I can’t risk you getting lost while you’re still technically healing. I promise, I’ll be fine and I’ll bring back the doc.”

I could tell he wanted to keep fighting me. And in that, he was like Logan; stubborn and protective. "_____..."

"Nope. Not another word. I'll be back before you know it. It's either that or I sneak out after you've passed out again."

He gave me a small smile. "Well, when you put it that way. Stay safe."

"I always am. I'll be back as soon as I can." I closed the cabin door behind me and began my walk back to the plane. Eventually I would head for town, but I needed to check the crash site first. This would be my only chance to check out the plane before the US got involved. And if Tony Stark made the plane, there would be all the more reason for them to hurry.

The storm was still technically rolling, but I could easily walk through it to the ends of the Earth. The beauty of my mutation: the weather never personally affected me. Unfortunately for me, I didn't make the storm severe enough as there were people gathering around the mostly snow-covered jet. Sighing, I eased the storm up and left the outlining trees to walk across the open field. The instant the winds stopped, everyone turned to the sound of my almost quiet footsteps in the snow. A man broke away from the group and started walking towards me.

"Can I help you, miss?" His voice easily carried across the field.

"I take it you're missing a pilot?"

That stopped him dead in his tracks. "You know where I can find him?"

"Yeah, and don't worry. He's alive. He's got a bump on the back of his head, but he seems pretty cognizant." As I got closer, something about the group of people seemed off to me. Another man jogged to catch up with the first. I could just make out his black suit through the opening of his jacket. "But you're clearly not military, so why are you the ones here?"

He smirked at me. "Sharp eye. My name is Special Agent Nick Fury and this man," he gestured to his side, "is Agent Phil Coulson. We're with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

I raised an eyebrow. "Listen, I'm certainly not one to judge, but what the actual hell is with that name?"

"Yeah, we've been looking at ways to make it shorter."

"Well, good luck with that. But do you mind telling me why I damn near had a jet land on my property?"

Agent Coulson spoke up this time. "I'm sorry, ma'am. That's confidential."

I let out a deep sigh and muttered under my breath, "goddamn government agents thinking they run the world."

"What was that?"

Before I could answer, Fury leaned in close. "Forgive me, but you look familiar."

"Hate to be rude, but the feeling isn't mutual. I can say for sure we've never met." I had no idea why he was staring so intently at my face, so I decided to circle back.  "Again, why are you here and not the military? Is it because this is Stark's property?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Did the pilot tell you that?"

"Oh please. How can anyone not recognize a Stark design? That family sure as hell wouldn't know subtle if it bit them on the ass."

He gave a genuine laugh at that. "Yeah, that family does love their style. Well, did as it's only Tony now. We need to speak with the pilot as soon as possible. There are some parts about his crash that isn't making any sense to us."

"He's back at my cabin but I don't know how much help he will be. He was unconscious when he landed."

"How do you know that?"

"You mean besides the part where this damn thing is practically on my property or the part where the rescued pilot is at my cabin? How the hell do you think he got there? Levitation?"

Fury studied my face again and this time spoke to the other man. "Agent Coulson, could you grab my files and inform the crew that you and I will be leaving with-"

"____ ____."

"Yes. With Ms. _____ to retrieve our pilot." He looked around at the woods behind me. "Where's your vehicle?"

"I don't have one."

"You're walking around the woods alone at night during a snowstorm?" Coulson raised his eyebrows at me.

"Agent Coulson, along with my files I'll need you to also bring over one of our jeeps." Fury didn't turn his face away from mine as he addressed the other man.

Coulson nodded and walked off. I sized up Fury before deciding to speak. "So you feel you know me from somewhere?"

He smirked and stepped over, lowering his voice so it didn't carry as easily across the field. "I wasn't sure at first, until Agent Coulson remarked about you walking alone in a storm. I was only a young man at the time and doing work over in the Soviet Union for the Army, but the news traveled even over there. You were there the day Magneto tried to kill Nixon. The day they tried to introduce the sentinels."

I kept my cool, giving a dismissive laugh. "Oh please, Agent Fury. What in the world would I have been doing in DC? I think you were just duped by a doppelganger. Besides, I would have been a teenager at that time, if memory serves me correctly."

Fury took another step. "I would almost believe that, if it wasn't for your eyes. Not many people run around with eyes so grey, they're almost silver. And that woman could clearly control elements, like the wind."

I just shrugged at the man. "Don't know what to tell you. Me, personally, I'm just used to the winters out here. No doubt one day my cockiness will get the better of me and a storm will take my life."

"Not likely." But before he could comment further, Coulson had pulled up in the jeep. "I guess we'll have to table this discussion for another time. Time for you to take us to Captain Ross."

"Of course, Agent Fury." I climbed into the jeep with the two men, ready to lead them to my cabin.


	10. Not a Super Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fury and Coulson try to recruit Reader’s help in an unlikely scenario. Everett tries to keep her clear.

“You made it! Is the doctor coming? Oh, Special Agent Fury!” Everett immediately jumped up from my couch and stood at attention.

“At ease, Captain. We’re here to take you and the jet back. And also make sure you didn’t sustain any major injuries.” Fury did a once over of my cabin. “Though I imagine you’ve been well taken care of since the crash.”

“To the best of my abilities, Fury. Unfortunately, I don’t have any former medical training. Just the basics that an old friend taught me.” I spared Everett a brief glance as I walked over to my tiny kitchen. 

“Healing isn’t one of your super powers?” Fury smirked at me.

Refusing the bait, I gathered Everett’s flight suit and handed it to Coulson. “I’m hardly a superhero. I just did what I could to make sure your friend didn’t die.”

Coulson took the suit after sparing a quick glance at Fury. “Wouldn’t surprise me if you were one. It’s not like you’re alone and we could always use an extra hand.”

“Agent Coulson, are you implying that I’m a mutant?” Everett did a double take that both Fury and Coulson ignored.

“Not at all, Miss ____. There's more to this universe than just mutants. I am just saying that you’re not as unique as you may think.”

“Well, may the Gods have mercy if there are more sarcastic woods witches roaming the Earth.” I looked at Everett again and smiled. "Be careful the next time you take an experimental plane for a spin. Not everyone's thrill to have their property invaded."

Before Everett could respond, Fury took over the conversation. "Agent Coulson, please take Captain Ross outside to jeep. We will need to get him back to the doctor right away. I'll be right behind you; I just want one last word with Miss _____."

Coulson opened the door to my cabin and stood aside so Everett could leave. He gave me one last look and smiled. "Thanks again for saving my life."

I returned the smile. "Any time. If you find yourself in Canada again, feel free to drop by."

Agent Coulson had him out the door before he could reply. Sighing, I turned towards Fury who was wandering around my cabin, looking closely at every shelf and item. "I hate to break it to you, but none of those things will reveal a hidden wall and a secret room. This cabin is what you see is what you get."

"Unlike you. Isn't that right, Mother Nature?" He turned to face me, but all I gave him was a cocked eyebrow. "You can try to play dumb, I have no doubt it comes as second nature. A survival tactic if you will. I know a renegade soldier when I see one."

That pissed me off. I growled through my teeth, "I'm not a soldier, nor will I ever be one. I think we're done here. You have your pilot and your plane."

Fury nodded his head, but didn't hurry for the door. "And for that, the US government is grateful."

"Like I really give a rat's ass. I'm not an American."

"Judging by the accent that sometimes slips out, you're not Canadian either." I narrowed my eyes at him. "And Captain Ross seems to have taken a shine to you in such a short amount of time."

"Gratitude. The word you're looking for is gratitude. I pulled him from a smoking plane, brought him in from the cold, and made sure he wasn't injured. No doubt he believes I saved his life; either from being burned alive, freezing to death, or eaten by some arctic wolf."

"Mmhmmm." He slowly walked towards the door, speaking the whole time. "I remember the day I watched the news coverage in DC. Magneto looking like he was going to win; ripping the safe room out of the White House, that man with the bone claws being filled with barbs and then tossed into a lake-"

Fury stopped when I closed my eyes, my hand making a fist around the first thing I could grab. The sudden silence from Fury made me open my eyes. I had grabbed my chef’s knife by the blade and crushed it in my hand. Damn, that knife was brand fucking new. And there went my ability to deny who I was. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I opened my hand and let the mangled metal fall onto the counter top.

“Fuck. It’s so hard to find good knives.” I stepped over to the sink and washed away the blood from the cut fingers. They would heal easily. “I think you need to leave, Fury.”

“Let me take you to our medic.”

“That won’t be necessary.” I held up my hand and wiggled the fingers. Already the bleeding had stopped.

“So healing is one of your super powers?”

“Not in the way you think.” I cleaned up the sink, the knife, and the counter top.

“Well, what I was going to say before I accidentally pissed you off was.... I remember you more than anything else. You were a force to be reckoned with. Actual Mother Nature from the myths and legends.”

“What do you want?”

“Why are you hiding?”

“You know, just when I think I’ve heard every possible stupid question from a government agent, you guys find new ways to surprise me.” I walked over to my cabin door and held it open for him. The hum of the jeep's engine now filling the room. "If I am what you suspect I am, then you know I just wish to be left alone."

"It must be lonely, living out here, ignoring the world." He stopped in front of me as he made his way outside.

"It actually wasn't. Not until I was unfortunate to meet Magneto. Then he took my mate from me."

"The man with the claws." A statement rather than a question.

"Correct. Now I am alone and frankly, I prefer it that way. I've seen enough death in my lifetime. I don't need more of it."

Fury just nodded his head. "I understand. Frankly, I wonder each day how much more I can take of my own job. But every day I trudge through it. Every day I find a new reason to fight." He turned his head to the jeep. "Maybe you need a new reason, too."

I openly rolled my eyes. "Wow, really? You're going to try to use the old 'fight for a new love' troupe? I don't know your pilot at all. Plus, I'm practically a widow!"

"For twenty years now. I can't say for sure how old you are or how much longer you will live, but I do know that is quite a long damn time to mourn a death. No matter how long you two were together. Just think about it. If you change your mind, you can find us in Southern California."

That caught my attention. "Wait, what?! Are you telling me Everett crashed all the way from CALIFORNIA?!"

"I'm not telling you anything." And with that, he finally joined the other two men in the jeep. I watched them pull away, Everett giving me a tiny wave. 

Inside my cabin, it felt oddly cold. Everett had only been here less than 24 hours and already my place felt empty. Maybe I was more alone than I was letting on. It didn't matter in the end. A mutant of my power level had no right getting mixed up with the government. Unlike Erik, I felt my powers shouldn't be used on humans, whether for good or bad.

Thinking about Erik made me think about Charles, and in turn, everything he was telling me about in regards to Jean. The whole situation left my mind the moment that jet began to fall. Fury was right; I had been alone for far too long. It was time for me to go home.

I spent the entire night prepping my cabin for my absence. I had no idea how long I would be gone, or if I would even return at all this century. But it didn't matter. I had made Charles a promise, and Erik being there or not wasn't going to stop me.

Just as I finished closing my bag, there was a knock on my cabin door. A familiar voice called through. "_____, are you home? I need to talk to you!"

"Everett? What the actual hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on your way home?" I opened the door to find him standing there as I remembered, still in mine and Logan's clothes. "Why are you back? How did you leave?"

He pushed past me into the cabin as he spoke, and I instantly knew something was off. "Fury told me he wanted you to come with us to California, so I had to convince you to stay here instead."

His words became a buzzing noise in the background as I caught a whiff of his scent. Whoever was here now, sure as shit wasn't Everett. He may not have stayed long in my cabin, but my bed was filled with his scent and this imposter clearly didn't know about the bonus effects of my mutation.

"Everett," my calm tone froze the intruder in place. "Or rather, whoever the fuck you are. You need to leave my cabin now if you want to stay alive."

"What are you talking about? It's me, Everett. I know we haven't known each other long-"

"Cut the shit, you fucking intruder! Get the fuck out of my cabin before I light your ass on fire!" My tone went up but my face and stance was a beacon of calm.

They turned to face me, their face equally tranquil. They tilted their head as they surveyed me. "Well, you're certainly not a Kree. Mind telling me what gave me away?"

"Your scent. With great mutation comes great senses. I just had that wounded pilot in my bed for nearly 24 hours. And honey, you don't smell a damn thing like him." I flicked my hand in their direction and a column of fire shot at the creature.

They immediately dropped their disguise from the shock of their clothes catching on fire. My eyes widen to see a green being in front of me, with a protruding nose and chin, and large elf style ears. The creature managed to put the flames out and stared at me in open hate.

"What the fuck are you?"

"A skrull. And we're here for your planet."

"'We're'?"

"Did you really think I worked alone?"

"Doesn't matter. You're alone now and that's how you'll die." Wind suddenly shot through my cabin, bursting through one wall and shooting the skrull though another. I ran after the creature, seeing that it had been blown through several trees before colliding with a boulder. Pointing my open hand, branches from a nearby tree reached down and began to wrap around the alien. I closed my fist and the branches pulled, holding tight against the struggling skrull. The body went limp, but I left it in the tree until I grabbed my backpack from the cabin. I set the cabin on fire as I pulled the alien down from the tree.

Charles would have to find a solution without me. Clearly I needed to head to California.


	11. Hidden Wars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader gets involved in an intergalactic battle. Everett slowly fills the hole in her heart.

I paced in the cold, sterile medical room, my footsteps the only sound other than the quiet slicing of a scalpel. Fury was sitting on a stool with a gun pointed at the dead body, one hand holding an ice pack to his left eye. Coulson was standing on the other side of the operating table, but had his focus on my pacing. This was the third dissection I was a part of, but the waiting was never any easier. 

"I don't mean to complain," Coulson started.

"But you're going to," I finished. "Listen, I get it. I can see how annoying I'm being, but this is the third skrull we've caught and we've learned literally nothing. I'm starting to feel that my whole coming here was pointless. Beyond giving you guys that first body."

"So why do you stay?"

"I'm not. Once this is done, I'm leaving. There isn't really a point or a need for me to be here."

Fury looked up and removed his ice pack, revealing the fresh wounds over his eye. There was talk that he may lose use of that eye very soon. "You may think this is pointless, but we need your help."

"No, you don't. It's been almost a year, three skrulls later, and one fallen alien that's supposedly on our side, and I have yet to see the point of me being here." I stopped pacing and watched the surgeon pull apart the skrull. Three of these and we had yet to figure out how they could shape shift so easily. At least with a mutant like Raven we understood the basics. But these aliens were leaving us hopelessly confused.

"You could tell that the one who came for you wasn't Captain Ross. We need a skill like that on our side."

I looked over at him with a 'are you fucking kidding me?' look on my face. "Fury, the only reason why I knew something was amiss the first time was because the alien's story made zero sense. Plus, other reasons that would literally never apply to a hunt of these creatures. Also, shape shifting isn't exactly something new to me. You have Captain Marvel, a freaking kree who's been purposely trained to spot these assholes. Utilize her more, for fuck sake."

The surgeon suddenly spoke up. "Special agent Fury, I'm all done with this specimen. I'm afraid there is nothing new to report."

I rolled my eyes and gestured upwards with one hand, as if to say 'no surprise there'. Fury sighed and nodded his head. "That's what we were afraid of. Go ahead and log all your notes and I'll make sure Danvers takes a look at it later."

The surgeon finished cleaning up and took his notes before leaving the room. I took one last look at the empty body before leaving the room, ignoring Fury and Coulson calling after me. Nine months ago I came to their hidden military base with the body of the skrull and unanswerable questions. In that time, I helped Fury's secret club (they really need to find a shorter name to refer to their damn branch) find and capture two more skrulls, help Carol Danvers (AKA Captain Marvel according to her) re-adjust to being on Earth, and regret every damn minute. Such a fucking waste of time. 

"Hey, ____! Where are you running off to?"

I looked over my shoulder and gave a small smile. "Hey, Ev. Not sure in the long run. Currently, going to grab some lunch. How about you?" 

Everett jogged to catch up with me. "Want company for lunch?"

"Sure, thanks." He blushed as he held the cafeteria door open for me. "So how was training?"

"Good, Stark's starting to make the planes easier to handle."

"That's good. At least he can take constructive criticism." We sat at a table away from most of the crowd. This had become a regular event for us: Everett would train on new planes or do practice exams for when he could join the CIA while I met with Fury, Coulson, or both to discuss the impending alien invasion. Then we would meet up for either lunch or dinner at the military cafeteria. We were starting to form an unlikely friendship and I would honestly miss him when I leave.

"So what do you mean you don't know where you're going in the long run?"

"Well, I'm not finding a real point to me being here beyond when I first arrived. I was only able to capture that first skrull because the creature was stupid enough to come at me."

"Yeah, how did that happen again?"

Pressing my lips together for a moment, I debated how to answer. I had eventually told Everett I was a mutant, but both he and Coulson were told very limited information on what kind of powers I had. Mainly that I had super strength and speed, which helped explain how I saved him from his downed jet. It was an agreement that Fury and I had in order for me to agree to work with them on this alien invasion. 

I just shook my head. "Luck really. Some alien showed up looking like you, claiming to have come back when you should have either been back in California or at least on a plane. Nothing at all added up."

"You knew me that well after 24 hours?" He tried smirking at me, but it came off more as a shy smile.

"Well, it was more that it didn't make sense that you would risk your career for someone you didn't know at all. Mainly because you spent most of those 24 hours passed out." We laughed at that. "I mean, clearly the alien hadn't spied on me long or it would have picked someone I wouldn't have suspected right away."

Everett nodded at this. "So when are you leaving?"

"A week at most. There are some things I'll need to take care of with Fury and check in with Danvers."

"Where will you go?"

"Not sure, really. Maybe back to Canada or maybe check in with my old friends in New York. They were dealing with their own crisis when I was drawn into this insanity."

"Other mutants?"

I nodded. "Yeah, there's a school out there made specifically for our kind, so we have a safe place to live and learn. Charles has been asking me to be a teacher or at least stay nearby. He worried I made myself too isolated after I... after the events back in the 70s. I was there for him when he lost everything and he's trying to return the favor. My problem is I'm too use to isolation."

Everett slowly reached out to take my hand. "You don't have to remain isolated. And you don't have to go back up north if you don't want. Stay near here. I like having someone to help me study for my entry exams."

I gave a small, sad smile and squeezed his hand. "Thanks, but it would probably be best if I didn't keep hanging around a government facility constantly. Governments and mutants typically don't go hand in hand.”

He looked sadly down at our linked hands. “Well, how about we go out, just once before you leave.”

“A jail break?” I laughed.

“Why not? I’m sure I can get away for one night. And you look like you haven’t had fun in a long time. No offence.”

“None taken because it’s true. The last time I had genuine fun was....” I trailed off as I thought. When I had Logan was the last time I had real fun. Ages ago. “Well, let’s just say it’s been a few years.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He squeezed my hand. “So let’s change that! Tomorrow night, you and I go on a jail break. I know of a place nearby with good food and drinks. We can even play a little pool.”

My smile grew wider. “Ok, if you insist. We’ll head out on the town for a night.”

"Great! I'll swing by your barrack tomorrow night around 6."

"I look forward to it." 

Everett squeezed my hand before rushing off to catch up with his commanding officer. I really was going to miss him and his friendship. It was nice having something normal in my life. Well, when we weren't talking about the kree/skrull war our planet seemed to be caught in the middle of. Maybe I could find a way to keep in touch with him after I left. He was a nice change for me; the complete opposite of Logan. And in many ways, that was enduring and just what I needed while I navigated my way out of my mourning.


	12. Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader goes out with Everett.

“Man, this place is such a dive. I love it!” I took a beer Everett handed me as I circled one of the pool tables. “How did you find out about this place? This doesn’t seem your speed at all.”

“A couple of my fellow pilots like to hit this place up. Though they mostly use it to try to find a girl for the night.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course. So why don’t you ever join them?”

“Well, I’m actually horrible at hitting on girls. And to be honest, there’s already someone who’s caught my eye. I just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Ev! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’m a great wingman -er, wingwoman. Whatever. I totally could have put in a few dozen good words for you.”

Everett blushed as he lined up his shot. “Thanks, but I know I’m not her type. I hear stories about her ex and there’s no way I could compete.”

“But that’s a good thing! He’s clearly her ex for a reason. You could have all the good qualities he didn’t.” I took my shot then picked up my beer. “And don’t ever worry about not being someone’s type. Any woman who wouldn’t date you is an idiot.”

“You’re just saying that cause you’re my friend.”

“Um, best friend! And not 100 percent true. I said it because I meant it. You remind me a lot of the man I lost. You’re stubborn, protective, loyal, determined, and funny. Not to mention good looking.” He blushed harder. “Any woman would be damn lucky to have you and can fight me if they don’t agree.”

"Thanks, _____. That means a lot coming from you." He stood next to me as I leaned against a wall. 

"Normally this is where I would bug you for her name, but I'll let it slide tonight. However, I do expect to know who she is before I leave. I plan to talk you up and make sure to give my seal of approval before I leave."

Everett just shook his head at me. "Don't worry about it. Really. She- uh..." he sighed and tilted his head back against the wall, "I..."

Suddenly it dawned on me and frankly I was ashamed with myself for not picking up the signs sooner. I nudged Everett with my elbow. "Don't sweat it. If you don't want to talk about her or want me talking to her, then we'll just drop it. I'm sorry I bugged you about it. You mean a lot to me and I don't ever want you to feel uncomfortable about talking to me."

"Really?" He turned his head to look at me. "Wait, I mean a lot to you?"

"Of course." I looked down at my feet. "My past is hella complicated and frankly a really long and traumatizing story. But in the end, you're one of the few people I still have in my life. Or at least, one of the few people I can trust."

"After less than a year of knowing me?"

"Are you really arguing over this?" I chuckled and looked back at him. "People in my life, the ones I know besides the people here, they know my whole past and are in some way entangled in a part of it. But you.... you just know me as some random woman that was living out in the woods by herself. I'm not my past. When you look at me, it's not in fear or anticipation or opportunity or curiosity. You just see me. Only one other person looked at me that way and it's been so long I'd almost forgotten what it was like."

Everett and I looked at each other as my words hung in the air. Then very slowly, he closed the gap and pressed his lips to mine. It was brief, sweet, and when he pulled away there was that slight blush again. He smiled and leaned in again. I put my hand on his chest, stopping him.

"Ev, as nice as that was, we can't." My heart ripped in half at seeing his face fall. "It's not because of my past, it's because of your future. You deserve the best and I am nowhere near it. There's so much to me and my past that if we got together.... it could very well hurt your chances to get into the CIA."

His head jerked back at this. "What? Why would dating you effect that?"

"Because I'm the type of mutant governments fear. And you will always have that cloud hanging over you."

"____, what are you talking about? All you have is super str- did you lie to us about your mutation?!"

"No, just omitted quite a bit. It was a deal I made in order to be kept here."

"But you won't tell me, the person you claim to be your best friend." 

"You have every right to be angry at me. I would be as well. But it won't change my mind, Ev. You're safer not knowing the truth about me."

"Safe? From whom?!"

"From myself. From Magneto. From the scrutiny of the public. Take your pick."

"____, I don't care about what the public thinks and I can't care about Magneto as I have never really heard much about him after what he did in the 70s. And I know you would never hurt me."

"Not on purpose, no. But... my mutation isn't safe for anyone who can't heal themselves. I'm sorry, Ev."

We headed back to the military base, the back of the cab filled with tension. It was so painful, especially since I wanted to give in to what Ev was feeling towards me. But I couldn't put him at risk; I stayed a nomad for a reason. And if public opinion didn't matter, there was still the fact that I would outlive him without even trying. And how would I even begin to try to explain that one without possibly sounding crazy?

Once inside, I expected Everett to just walk off towards his barrack with barely a goodbye. Instead, he grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug. "It would be easy for me to be mad, but in honestly I can't be. I care about you, a lot. I want nothing more than to be given a chance to be together, but I won't force you. Between your past, not being comfortable around government agents, and your last... lover that you always dance around to the point I don't even know his name, I understand your hesitation. Just know if you ever change your mind, I'm here. And I won't stop being your friend if you say no."

I wiped a tear away as we pulled apart. "Thank you, Everett. I know it's not easy being a friend with a mutant, especially one who hides to survive. I still mean what I said. You mean a lot to me and that won't change. Sleep well."

"You, too."

I wandered down the halls, replaying the night with Everett in my head. I was so engrossed with deciding on whether or not I should run back to him that I almost ran into Captain Marvel.

“Oh, Danvers! Sorry about that, my head was elsewhere.”

“Clearly. Are you ok?”

“Honestly? No. But I never have been.”

“Sorry.”

“Eh, comes with the territory.” I shrugged. “How goes the skrull hunt?”

“Could be better with help.” She smirked at me.

I sighed. “I outta punch Fury in the dick.”

“It’s not his fault. I kinda threatened him.”

“Fabulous. Still doesn’t change that I can’t help you.”

“Not in the way that Fury wants, that is.”

“Oh lord. What did you have in mind, ET?”

She rolled her eyes at the nickname. “We’re going on a recon mission.”

“We?”

“Yes, we. Grab a bag of clothes. We leave at dawn.”

“Don’t you need me to agree to this insanity first?”

“_____, if we don’t do this, your world will be caught in the middle of a thousand year old war. One it’s not able to defend itself against. Even with your help.”

“Fine, where do we begin?”

“On my homeworld.”

“I’m sorry. Come again?”


	13. No Rest For The Wicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader follows Captain Marvel around to fight skrulls before ending up back on Earth. She makes a choice in regards to Everett and hopes she doesn't regret it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely coming up on the finish line with this one. Sorry it took so long!

For the next four years, Captain Marvel and I hopped from planet to planet fighting skrulls. We mostly bounced between Earth and her home, but occasionally we made a side stop based on any intel she received from people she trusted. Since half of our battles were fought on another planet, only my control on fire, lightning, and wind remained with me. But my inability to heal from heavy hits is what caused us to return to Earth as often as we did. 

We learned a great deal from each other. She found it fascinating to see how the Earth healed me in different ways depending on my level of injuries. I was baffled at how she was able to harness the power of a white hole to use in battle. Carol told me about the Kree Empire, the work that Ronan was doing to secure their future, and how she was found on Earth after an accident which lead her to meeting Fury and Coulson. And in return, I tried my best to explain mutants and the X-Gene.

"But if you all have the same gene that causes mutation, why is each mutation different?" We were exiting her ship after we landed at the military base back in California.

"Honestly? You should probably talk to Dr McCoy about that. I'm sure it has something to do with alleles, or something on that level."

"You're unsure?" Carol glanced in my direction as we walked down the halls to the barracks.

"Well, a majority of my knowledge on biology was gained during the 1500s, so needless to say there are some holes in my education. I've done my best to self-teach myself the ways that science and technology has changed, but mostly I've had to rely on Charles and Hank to fill in the gaps."

"Do the others know how old you are?"

"Fury has an idea that I'm older than I appear. What number he's guessing at, I haven't a clue. As for Coulson and Ross, no. And I'd like to keep it that way."

She stopped and grabbed my arm. "Ross doesn't know? I thought you and he were...."

"Friends. He and I are friends." But I couldn't look at her in the eyes as I said it. In truth, I had really missed Everett while I was traveling around the galaxy. And the more I thought about him, the more I realized I had made a mistake by telling him no.

Carol sighed and let go of my arm. "Somehow I'm not entirely convinced by that. Why don't you go find him? We're not scheduled to leave again for a couple of months."

"I have a sinking feeling I'm too late."

"Why? Has he mentioned anything the last time you were here?"

"Just that he felt he never saw me enough."

"Then it's time to make up for lost time." She shoved me in the direction of the men's barracks before heading down a different hall.

I shook my head before continuing down the path she had pointed me towards. Taking a deep breath, I knocked quickly on his door. His eyes grew wide as he took in the site of me.

"You're back!"

"Yup. Danvers says we'll be here for a few months this time so I thought I'd check up on my favorite pilot."

"I'll glad you'll finally be here for a while. I feel like we never get to talk as much." His eyes subconsciously went up and down my body, sending a feeling deep into my stomach.

"I know, I'm so sorry. Can I come in? I've really missed you."

I didn't think it was possible for his eyes to get any wider. "You did?"

"Of course. Like I said, you mean a lot to me, Ev."

He licked his lips as he stared at me, like he couldn't believe I was really there. "It's been so long since anyone has called me that."

"Would you prefer Everett?" I took a tentative step towards him.

"Not a chance." Before I could say anything else, he pulled me in roughly for a kiss. I wrapped my arms around him and followed him inside, kicking the door closed behind us.

That night we laid in his small bed, my head on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat was calming after all those quiet nights on the ship. I decided to break the silence. "I don't think I'm going to leave with Carol this next time."

I could hear the smile in his voice. "Part of me wants to believe it's because of tonight, but I know you better than that."

"Well, I won't lie and say this didn't help push me towards that decision. But in all honesty, I'm not meant for space travel."

"What's it like out there?"

"Eerily quiet and massively expansive. Really makes you feel small and it's a bit unsettling. But it's also amazingly beautiful at times."

He trailed his fingers over my arm that was draped over his chest. "So...um," he cleared his throat, "what made you change your mind about us?"

I let out a long sigh. "This last trip.... it almost went horribly wrong. I managed to remain unharmed, but it was a big wake up call that my power is here on Earth and I can't take it with me. Before all this I was helping my old friend Charles start a school to help our kind and I still want to help. And I very well can't do that if I'm dead because some skrull decided they had enough of me. It also made me realize how alone I have been these past twenty years. You're not the man I lost and I'm glad for that. You're someone who will combat my darker side, not feed it."

"You don't have a darker side."

"Everyone has a darker side, Ev. Some are just darker than others. I'm not ready to talk about my past yet, but I do want to see if we can make this work."

"Well, we've known each other for five years now without me knowing your past. I think I can wait a little longer."

"Thank you."

The next month felt like I was home again, which was an odd concept for me. I was not the kind to feel comfortable around military and government people, but yet here I was trying to date a pilot while forming bonds with Fury, Coulson, and Danvers. Danvers seemed to take it in stride that I didn't want to return with her this last time, but that didn't stop her from subtly trying to change my mind every day at lunch. Fury (who now sported an eye patch thanks to the injury he received at the beginning of this war) was glad that I had decided to stick around the base, even if it mostly was because of Everett. He felt this war was far from over and wanted me close by when shit hit the fan.

And as it happens with my life, that's exactly what happened. 

It started with Everett. I went to visit him one night and he looked deathly pale when he opened the door. "Oh my god, Everett! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just running a fever is all."

I looked at his pupils and something began to buzz in the back of my mind. Like a memory long since buried. "Just a fever?"

"Well, I have felt dizzy as well as dehydrated. But I'm sure it's just the flu."

My blood ran cold. "We should get you to the hospital wing."

"I'll be fi-" But before he could finish, he passed out on his feet. Luckily, I was close enough to catch him before he could hit the ground. I scooped him into my arms and ran out the door and down the hall.

I passed both Fury and Coulson on my way who immediately raced after me without waiting for an explanation. In the hospital wing, Fury began to bark orders as I laid Everett down on a stretcher. "Damnit, Ev. Wake up."

The doctors wheeled him away as Fury and Coulson turned towards me. "What the hell happened?"

"I went to see him today and he looked like death warmed over. I started asking him what was wrong when he passed out! Thank the gods I was close enough to catch him."

"Did he tell you anything?"

"Just stuff that made it sound like he had the flu. But his pupils.... they were really small."

Fury studied my face. "I take it you've seen this before?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes, but it's been so many years I don't know if I'm remembering it correctly."

"So what could it be?"

"Me. It's my mutation, or at least part of it." I ran my hand through my hair. "Part of me was worried this could happen, but since it hadn't happened in-" I caught myself before I could reveal an idea of my age, "in many years, I wasn't a hundred percent sure it could still happen."

"What is happening?"

"My mutation is killing him. I can't explain it beyond that because I genuinely don't know. I've actually been working with some friends to find out the reason why." I buried my face in my hands for a moment before looking back at the two gentlemen. "I need to leave before this gets worse. If I leave now, there's a chance Everett can survive this."

“You’re just going to abandon him?!”

I opened my mouth to respond, but Fury’s boss suddenly burst into the room.

“You two,” he gestured at Fury and myself, “with me now.”

“Yes sir. Coulson, stay here with Ross and report to me once they get a diagnosis.”

“I will, sir.”

Before I had a chance to protest, Fury grabbed me by the arm and dragged me after his boss. We sped down several hallways before we finally came to his office. I couldn't understand why he wanted to speak to me. I knew so little about this man, I didn't even know his name. And as far as I knew, Coulson and Fury told him I was someone with the Canadian government when I brought that first skrull to this base.

The man went behind his desk, but remained standing. "Nick, I've worked with you for many years and I've always thought you were a great agent."

"Thank you, sir."

"Until now. We're caught in the middle of an intergalactic war and your hiding a mutant right here on base?!"

My head snapped up as Fury fumbled to explain the situation. "Sir, it's not what you think. Miss _____ has been helping us fight the skrulls."

"A mutant that you allowed near one of our pilots! And now he's dying because no doubt he contracted whatever those creatures carry!"

My eyes narrowed at this. "How do you know about Captain Ross being ill?"

"Excuse me?! You dare question me?!"

"How the fuck do you know about Everett?! We literally carried him into the hospital five minutes before you walked into the door! And furthermore, how the fuck do you know about me?!"

"Your kind never was great at hiding!"

"I'm the best at hiding, mother fucker! All time champion! Unless...." my voice trailed off as I caught a glint of green in his eyes. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened as the realization hit me. "Holy fuck! You're-"

But I was cut off by the man in question shooting me with a Taser gun. The prongs hit right at my heart and I could feel the currents flow through me. Harmlessly.

He scowled at the gun, smacking the side of it with his hand. "Piece of shit."

"Did you just try to Tase her?!" Fury's jaw was practically on the floor.

"It's not a piece of shit, Talos." Both sets of eyes snapped to my face. "The problem is you're trying to use it on a creature that's had lightning flow through her body on an almost daily basis since she was a child. This," I gestured at the prongs that still stuck out of my chest, "is the equivalent of a human receiving a static shock. Now. Let me show you how this was supposed to go."

I grabbed the protruding wires with my hands, but didn't remove the prongs. My eyes and hair turned silvery blue as I summoned a lightning bolt. It burst through the window by his desk, hit my body, and traveled down the wires to Talos' waiting hands. Talos was immediately shot back through the wall behind his desk, the Taser gun exploding from the force of energy. I grabbed Fury and shoved him down so the desk would protect him from the shooting plastic pieces.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"

"Fury, for fuck sake can you bring your voice down a few dozen notches. We need to get Danvers. Your boss is actually Talos, the head of the skrull army!"

"Don't you think he's dead?!"

"Trust me, if skrulls were that easy to kill, I would have been home ages ago." I yanked the two prongs out of my chest and grabbed Fury by his jacket before racing down the hall. "Marvel! We got a fucking emergency!!"

Luck was on my side and Carol happened to be walking by at that very moment. "What's going on? Is that blood on your chest?!"

"Forget about that! Talos is Fury's boss! I just blasted his ass through a wall, but you need to finish the job."

Without waiting any further, Carol raced towards the room we just left. I took a deep breath and headed back towards the hospital wing.

"Wait, aren't you going with her?"

"No, Fury. Carol can handle herself. I need.... I need to get..." I closed my eyes and sighed. "Home. I need to go home. I've been here far too long."

"You're really going to do it. You're going to leave him."

"I don't want to, but I need to. I need him to live."

Fury nodded his head. "I still think it's a big mistake, but after what I just saw you do to Talos, I'm not going to fight you."

I gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Fury. I'm sure our paths will cross once again. Governments have a bad habit of sticking their nose where it doesn't belong."

He laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure they will."

Back in the hospital wing, I hid close by to Everett's room and listened to the doctor's diagnosis as he talked to Coulson.

"We can't explain it. It's as if a foreign source is causing him to be ill. All we can do is wait."

My heart broke at the news. I was right; I was killing Everett. The moment the doctor and Coulson walked away from the room, I quietly slipped in. Everett was hooked up to a couple different machines to keep track of his vitals and to help him breath. A small sob left my lips. Seeing the doctor left behind his clipboard, I flipped to a blank page and began to quickly write a note for when Everett woke up. He would never forgive me, but hopefully this would help him understand. I folded up the piece of paper and tucked it under a glass of water on the nearby table with his name visible.

I bent down to whisper in his ear. "Ev, I am so sorry it's come to this. I never wanted to leave you, but I can't stay and watch you die at my hands. I love you."

Kissing his cheek on last time, I snuck out the door and off the base.


	14. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader returns to the X Mansion after a few more years of wandering.

The mansion itself looked the same as always. History was etched in each and every stone that made up the structure, telling their own stories. My stone ramps remained as if untouched, though knowing Charles, they were used daily. It felt so strange to be back and at the same time like I had finally come home. Kids ran around the expansive lawn, playing various games or studying for upcoming tests. Smiling to myself, I climbed the steps and knocked on the old door.

But I was not prepared for what I would see next.

"Oh my.... Logan?!"

He stood there before me in the doorway and for a moment it was like time had not kept us apart nearly forty years. He hadn't aged a day and aside from his modern wardrobe, looked just like the last time I saw him in 1973.

Logan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You know me?"

My head jerked back. "What? Are you- are you kidding me? Logan, it's me. _____. Surely my looks haven't changed that much in forty years."

He shook his head. "Sorry, kid. The name doesn't ring a bell."

"Logan, who's there?" A familiar blue face appeared behind Logan. "_____! You finally decided to visit again! Charles will be thrilled."

"Hey, Hank." I tried to force a smile on my face as my heart broke at Logan not recognizing me. "Sorry I never came by sooner, but I actually got caught in an intergalactic battle."

"Wow! That puts our stories during the 70s and 80s to shame!"

"Uh, yeah. Can I come in? I have a strong feeling I need to talk to Charles."

"Of course! It's ok, Logan. _____ is an old friend of mine and Charles. In fact, she's an old friend of yours as well."

"Hmm, is that so? Sorry I don't remember you, kid. I have some gaps in my memory."

"Oh! Uh, sure. It's ok. I'm sure Charles will help me fill you in later." I stepped into the mansion and took a quick look around. Not much had changed other that the number of students that now roamed the hallways. "Wow, Hank. You two really got this school going! Did Erik ever come back to teach? Is Raven still here?"

Logan tensed at those names as Hank shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. Do you remember in the early 90s a problem Charles wanted help with?"

I nodded my head, guiltily. "Yeah, I was actually coming to help when a plane landed in my yard and threw me off my whole game plan"

"Well.... things went south and Raven and Erik left again. Jean is fine now, but even Charles doubts that Erik and Raven will ever come home again."

"Damn. I thought we finally got them to see reason." I followed Hank down a hallway and quickly noticed Logan wasn't following. Looking over my shoulder, I saw him speaking quietly to a woman with deep red hair. Jean, all grown up and gorgeous. This must have been part of what Logan meant when he said we spent some time apart before my death. But if we changed the future....

Shaking my head, I jogged to catch up with Hank. Soon we were in front of a pair of French doors. "Ever since Charles returned to his wheelchair, we had to move his office down stairs. For convenience more than anything."

"Of course."

In the office, behind a large wooden desk, sat Charles. It had been at least thirty years since I had seen him, and unlike Logan, time had not left him untouched. There were a few wrinkles around his eyes as well as some laugh lines, but he was still a handsome gentleman.

"Thank you, _____." Charles chuckled.

"Damnit man, didn't I say it was unsettling to do that?" I laughed as well before hugging him.

He looked into my eyes and the smile faded. "I take it you saw Logan."

My lower lip quivered and I turned to find a chair to sit in. "I remember how, oh way back in 1973, when he claimed to be on a mission from the future. He said there was a point where we stopped seeing each other and he even forgot about me for a while. But I thought when we stopped the sentinel program-"

"That you changed that future as well." Charles sighed as Hank took a seat next to me and wrap an arm around my shoulders. "Well as far as what I remember Logan telling me, the war should have been in full swing by now. So we definitely prevented that. But as for you and Logan...."

"You think somethings couldn't have changed as they weren't connected to each other? No, this is my fault. If I had stopped Erik before he could toss Logan into the river, he wouldn't be looking at me like I was some stranger."

"You don't know that. For all we know, Stryker would have gotten a hold of Logan no matter what."

"What.... what did Stryker do to him?"

Charles couldn't even look me in the eyes. It was Hank who answered me. "He tried to turn Logan into the ultimate weapon. He was actually referred to as Weapon X the entire time he was held at Alkaline Lake. Part of what he did.... he covered Logan's entire skeleton in adamantium."

I furrowed my eyebrows at that. "I'm sorry, but what's that?"

"I assume you know what vibranium is, given your friendship with a certain hidden country?"

I smirked at Hank. "Yeah, I guess you could say that I do."

"Well, adamantium is a mixture of vibranium, steel, and an unknown catalyst. Once it hardens, it's indestructible."

"How in the hell did he get a hold of vibranium?! It's not like you can just waltz into Wakanda...." my voice trailed off and then I tipped my head back. "Fucking Klaue. Of course. He stole a bunch from them a couple decades past. I was just in Wakanda talking to them about it. Well.... within the last five years I was there. Stryker must have bought some off of Klaue. Fucking hell."

Hank just nodded as I did my mini ramble. 

I took a deep breath and continued. "So Logan now has this all over his bod- holy fuck! This is the second time he's had to endure that!"

"What? How could that be possible?!"

"Back when we were in DC to stop Raven, Logan went through the metal detector and gave it a strange look. He must have had the same skeleton in that future as well." I sighed. "You were right, Charles. No matter the outcome of the war, Logan and I being separated was clearly always going to happen. Just like his metal skeleton."

Charles rolled over and put his hand on mine. "It will be ok, I promise. Just as you and Logan helped Hank and I, we will, in turn, help the both of you."

"A shame it's not time for the timelines to sink up."

"What do you mean?"

"Logan told me that if it works - if we stop the war - he would wake back up in his older body. Only he would be the only one to remember the old timeline. At least when that happens, he'll remember me as well."

"He will remember you before that. It'll just take some time." I nodded my head. "In the meantime, I do have your old room in the attic ready for you. Also, this letter has been waiting for you for a few months now."

Charles reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Waiting for me? Most of the people who know I helped in this place...."

I closed my eyes, realizing that I had a pretty good idea who the letter was from. Opening up the envelope, I was proven right.

 

________

_I hope this letter eventually finds you, I know how you like to wander._

_I'll cut straight to the point. S.H.I.E.L.D. (we finally found a way to shorten the name. Coulson's idea) is assembling a team together. The Avengers Initiative. And I want you to be a part of the team. You'll be the only mutant, but you'll have a good team surrounding you:_

_Tony Stark - Iron Man_

_Natasha Romanov - Black Widow_

_Clint Barton - Hawkeye_

_Steve Rogers - Captain America_

_Thor - Whom I believe you already know_

_And Dr Bruce Banner - Most know him as the Hulk_

_I look forward to your reply._

_Director Nick Fury_

_P.S. Everett Ross survived his illness_

 

Shaking my head, I gave a small smile. "Oh, Fury. You should know better than to ask me. I'm not a joiner."

"I take it you won't be leaving us." Charles laughed.

"Not yet. Someone here needs my help. But that doesn't mean I'm ready to enact our paperwork from the 60s either."

"That's quite alright. Why don't you get settled in and I'll introduce you to the rest of the staff."

"Thanks, Charles." I paused. "It feels good to be home."

"It feels good to have you home."


	15. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place two months after the end of A Goddess is Born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read my series! I really appreciate it!

"Ev, we need to move your class to the empty room on the first floor. Wade," I sighed. "Let's just say Wade was being Wade and Piotr needs to make some repairs to that room."

Everett shook his head. "That man is a one-man wrecking crew."

"That's putting it mildly. Hank, your new beakers will arrive by Friday. Weather delayed them by two days."

"That's alright. My class will make due in the meantime."

"Jean, you and Ororo need to prepare to head back out west. The second school is over due for an inspection. Frankly, as much as I hate to break the team apart, you two may have to spend some time out there to get them back on track."

"Of course. I'll have Ororo make the necessary arrangements while I contact Scott to let him know we’re coming. We'll keep you updated weekly."

"Thanks, Jean." I looked up from my clipboard and smiled. "Hey, Logan. You're a little late for the staff meeting. We're about finished and then you can head towards your class."

Logan looked as though he was seeing a ghost. He first looked at Jean, as if she shouldn't be there. Then his eyes fell on me. "You're alive. You're both alive."

"Of course I-" realization dawned on me and I looked over at Charles. "I think sleeping beauty finally woke up."

Charles chuckled. "I was wondering when the timelines would finally merge. If you could excuse us, _____ and I have a long anticipated conversation to have with Logan right now."

Jean and Hank nodded their heads before leaving. Everett walked over to me. "Is this what you were telling me about?"

"Yeah, I'll explain more after Charles and I talk to Logan. In the meantime, can you cover his class? Normally I would, but...."

"Not a problem. I remember the plan for when this day came. Movie and pop quiz. I'll be so popular with the kids.”

I laughed. "They'll get over it. Thanks, Ev."

He kissed my cheek and quickly left the room. Logan look after Everett and then raised his eyebrow at me. "Did I miss something? When did you dump me?"

Sighing, I turned to look at Charles. "Apparently a lot was different in the other timeline."

"Well, Logan did say you two were together in the end."

I nodded my head and brushed some hair out of my face. Logan caught sight of the ring. "You're married?!"

"Yeah, you were there. It was two months ago."

"But it wasn't to me."

"Logan, please sit. Charles and I have fifty years to fill you in and a lot of it will be hard to take in."

"Can you please at least tell me why we aren't together? And why you're with..." he trailed off when he saw me cock an eyebrow at him in a silent warning. He cleared his throat. "With that guy."

"Let's, uh, let's start somewhere easy. What's the last thing you remember?" Charles chimed in.

Logan was silent for a while. "I was drowning."

I nodded my head. "When I was done subduing Erik, I ran to the lake to see if it was possible to save you. But by the time I got there, Stryker was already fishing you out. I spent ten years trying to find you, but you disappeared without a trace. Frankly, I thought he killed you with his experimenting. It wasn't until thirteen years ago that we found each other again. But you had completely forgotten everything about your past. Including me."

"So you just moved on? Like that?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Charles and I spent years trying to get your memory back. But during that time, it was you who fell in love with someone else."

"Jean," he whispered, looking down at his hands.

"I can't say for sure - you'll have to confirm or deny - that in your old timeline, this very scenario happened. The only difference is that Jean died and that's why you came back to me."

Logan couldn't meet my eyes and I knew then I was correct.

"It's ok, Logan. I'm not mad."

He looked up, startled. "You're not?"

I smiled at him. "No, of course not. It's like I had told you years ago: you did what came naturally when I wasn't there. Just like I did when you left. Everett and I met back in the 90s while I was helping to fight a very unsual war. But I thought I was making him sick with my mutation, so I left him.”

“Did we ever get back together?”

“We tried, but you were still in love with Jean.”

“And your mutation began to hurt me.”

I nodded my head. “But it’s not all bad.”

“How so? You’re alive, but I don’t have you.”

“No. But you have Jean.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, I finally managed to convince her to leave Mr Stick-Up-His-Ass. Though it also took my help to convince Jean to give you a chance. You’re going on a year now.”

Logan’s jaw was practically on the floor. “What happened to Scott?”

“He’s leading our school in the west. Jean and Ororo are leaving tomorrow for a visit. Charles and I warned Jean this day was coming, so she may give you a little space at first.”

Logan let the words sink in. “What else have I missed?”

“I’m afraid quite a lot, my dear friend. But _____ and I will help you adjust every step of the way.”

I gathered Logan in my arms for a hug. “Welcome back, Wolverine.”

“Thanks, kid.”


End file.
